EQUITIES
Foreigners sell NT$50.3bn
Foreign investors last week sold a net NT$50.3 billion (US$1.57 billion) of local shares after buying a net NT$5.01 billion a week earlier, the Taiwan Stock Exchange said in a statement yesterday. As of Friday, foreign investors had sold NT$1.29 trillion of local shares since the beginning of the year, it said. The top three shares bought by foreign investors last week were Innolux Corp (群創), United Microelectronics Corp (聯電) and AUO Corp (友達光電), while the top three shares sold by foreign investors were E.Sun Financial Holding Co (玉山金控), Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (台積電) and Cathay Financial Holding Co (國泰金控). As of Friday, the market capitalization of shares held by foreign investors was NT$16.13 trillion, or 39.41 percent of total market capitalization, it said.
EQUITIES
Exchange calls for buybacks
The Taiwan Stock Exchange yesterday encouraged listed companies to implement stock buyback programs to enhance investor confidence. The exchange also called on executives and board directors to increase holdings of their company’s shares to bolster market confidence. It said that listed companies should consider their cash flow management to protect corporate credibility and shareholders’ interest in buyback programs. From Jan. 1 to Friday last week, listed companies executed 53 buyback programs, 46 of which were expired, completed or ceased to implement, it said. Listed firms are expected to pour in NT$1.52 billion to repurchase their shares through the remaining seven programs, it said.
LABOR
Furlough numbers increase
The number of the nation’s furloughed workers grew by 1,719 from the previous week to 15,050 last week, with most of them from small tourism agencies and the manufacturing sector, the Ministry of Labor said yesterday. Department of Labor Standards and Equal Employment Deputy Director Wang Chin-jung (王金蓉) said the highest number of furloughed workers, 1,195, were from small travel agencies which have yet to benefit from the reopening of the border on Thursday. Of the 208 furloughed workers in the manufacturing sector, about 100 were from a machine tool maker due to a decline in orders, Wang said. Eighty-eight workers on unpaid leave were from retail and wholesale businesses, while 85 and 81 were from the transportation/logistics and hotel/restaurant industries respectively, she said.
SEMICONDUCTORS
ISTI posts record profit
Chip inspecting services provider Integrated Service Technology Inc (ISTI, 宜特科技) yesterday said it expects geopolitical tensions and reduced production from customers would not affect its business as it reported record-high pretax profit for the third quarter. It said that pretax profit grew 162 percent year-on-year to NT$167 million last quarter, the highest for the same period on record. That translated into pretax earnings per share of NT$2.28. Consolidate revenue totaled NT$975 million last quarter, also a record high, with gross margin reaching 31.1 percent. Strong demand for verification and analysis of automotive chips, advanced processes, advanced packaging and compound semiconductors last quarter, as well as contributions from subsidiaries and affiliates, contributed to revenue and pretax profit, it said. In the first three quarters, pretax profit totaled NT$371 million, up 126 percent year-on-year, with pretax earnings per share of NT$5, it said.
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
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