EQUITIES
Investors pocket profits
The TAIEX closed slightly lower yesterday after initial gains were erased amid lingering caution caused by the US Federal Reserve’s hawkish outlook. The bellwether electronics sector gave up an earlier upturn as fears of further volatility among tech stocks on the US markets prompted investors to lock in their profits. The TAIEX closed down 26.70 points, or 0.18 percent, at 15,069.19. Turnover totaled NT$178.284 billion (US$5.89 billion), with foreign institutional investors selling a net NT$10.59 billion of shares on the main board after a net sell of NT$16.76 billion on Tuesday, Taiwan Stock Exchange data showed.
ELECTRONICS
Weak demand hits Innolux
Flat-panel maker Innolux Corp (群創) has encouraged employees to take an extra five days off over the Mid-Autumn Festival and Double Ten National Day holidays, the company said in a statement yesterday. Innolux aims to reduce its factory utilization rate to as low as 50 percent during the second half of this year in response to weak customer demand, the company said. Production line employees are to work a flexible rotation scheme based on adjustments to the usage of the production line, it said. The company’s statement came after an employee wrote to the Chinese-language Apple Daily, accusing the company of forcing workers to take annual leave.
STEELMAKERS
CSC’s pre-tax income dives
China Steel Corp (CSC, 中鋼) said its pre-tax income plummeted 39 percent to NT$2.61 billion last month from NT$4.29 billion in June, due to a reduction in carbon steel sales and a lower gross margin. The Kaohsiung-based firm sold 683,834 tonnes of steel last month, down 15.26 percent from 806,975 tonnes in June, it said in a statement released on Tuesday. During the first seven months of this year, the steelmaker accumulated NT$31.51 billion in pre-tax income, down 29 percent from NT$44.29 billion during the same period last year. However, revenue rose 13 percent year-on-year from NT$255.15 billion to NT$288 billion during the January-to-July period, it said.
BROKERAGES
Firms’ net income up 74%
Securities firms in Taiwan reported combined net income of NT$5.202 billion last month, up 73.92 percent from June, as a decline in brokerage fee income was offset by increases in dealers’ trading income and underwriting income, the Taiwan Stock Exchange said on Monday. The exchange attributed the decline in fee income to a drop in securities transactions last month, when trading fell 4.96 percent month-on-month to NT$4.832 trillion. In the first seven months of this year, the accumulated net income of securities firms was NT$23.655 billion, down 65.37 percent from the same period last year.
BROKERAGES
China Merchants IPOs halted
Chinese bourses have stopped processing more than 20 initial public offering (IPO) plans sponsored by China Merchants Securities Co (招商證券) following an investigation into the broker, exchange disclosures showed. Since Friday last week, the Shenzhen Stock Exchange has suspended 15 IPO plans for its ChiNext board, while the Shanghai exchange has paused five IPO plans for its STAR Market. Three other IPOs targeting the Beijing Stock Exchange were also affected. The bourses attributed the halts to an investigation by authorities into China Merchants Securities’ poor due diligence and rule contraventions.
SEEKING CLARITY: Washington should not adopt measures that create uncertainties for ‘existing semiconductor investments,’ TSMC said referring to its US$165 billion in the US Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) told the US that any future tariffs on Taiwanese semiconductors could reduce demand for chips and derail its pledge to increase its investment in Arizona. “New import restrictions could jeopardize current US leadership in the competitive technology industry and create uncertainties for many committed semiconductor capital projects in the US, including TSMC Arizona’s significant investment plan in Phoenix,” the chipmaker wrote in a letter to the US Department of Commerce. TSMC issued the warning in response to a solicitation for comments by the department on a possible tariff on semiconductor imports by US President Donald Trump’s
The government has launched a three-pronged strategy to attract local and international talent, aiming to position Taiwan as a new global hub following Nvidia Corp’s announcement that it has chosen Taipei as the site of its Taiwan headquarters. Nvidia cofounder and CEO Jensen Huang (黃仁勳) on Monday last week announced during his keynote speech at the Computex trade show in Taipei that the Nvidia Constellation, the company’s planned Taiwan headquarters, would be located in the Beitou-Shilin Technology Park (北投士林科技園區) in Taipei. Huang’s decision to establish a base in Taiwan is “primarily due to Taiwan’s talent pool and its strength in the semiconductor
An earnings report from semiconductor giant and artificial intelligence (AI) bellwether Nvidia Corp takes center stage for Wall Street this week, as stocks hit a speed bump of worries over US federal deficits driving up Treasury yields. US equities pulled back last week after a torrid rally, as investors turned their attention to tax and spending legislation poised to swell the US government’s US$36 trillion in debt. Long-dated US Treasury yields rose amid the fiscal worries, with the 30-year yield topping 5 percent and hitting its highest level since late 2023. Stocks were dealt another blow on Friday when US President Donald
UNCERTAINTY: Investors remain worried that trade negotiations with Washington could go poorly, given Trump’s inconsistency on tariffs in his second term, experts said The consumer confidence index this month fell for a ninth consecutive month to its lowest level in 13 months, as global trade uncertainties and tariff risks cloud Taiwan’s economic outlook, a survey released yesterday by National Central University found. The biggest decline came from the timing for stock investments, which plunged 11.82 points to 26.82, underscoring bleak investor confidence, it said. “Although the TAIEX reclaimed the 21,000-point mark after the US and China agreed to bury the hatchet for 90 days, investors remain worried that the situation would turn sour later,” said Dachrahn Wu (吳大任), director of the university’s Research Center for
RSS