SINGAPORE
House transactions surge
Home sales last month rebounded to the second highest monthly figure this year, bucking economic headwinds that are roiling property markets worldwide. Purchases of new private apartments surged to 987 units last month, Urban Redevelopment Authority figures showed yesterday. That was more than double a two-year low in August, when only 437 units were sold due to a lack of new home launches. The jump in sales was mainly fueled by the launch of two major suburban projects, of which 80 percent were snapped up last month. Buyers looking to upgrade from public housing and an influx of expats, led by rich Chinese, have flooded the private residential market, analysts said.
INDONESIA
Exports drop 11% monthly
The nation earned US$24.8 billion from exports last month, down 11 percent from August, Statistics Indonesia said. While shipments rose 20 percent from a year earlier, it was the smallest increase in 20 months, and fell short of the 29 percent predicted in a Bloomberg survey of economists. “Export value declined in September as exports of leading commodities such as iron and steel, palm oil and coal decreased, due to either slower demand and lower prices in global markets,” Statistics Indonesia deputy for distribution and services Setianto said yesterday.
SOUTH KOREA
BOK cycle to end: experts
Economists surveyed by Bloomberg expect the Bank of Korea (BOK) to reach the end of its hiking cycle early next year. The BOK would probably raise its seven-day repurchase rate by 25 basis points to 3.25 percent at next month’s meeting, according to the median estimate of the survey. With another hike during the first quarter of next year expected, the rate would hit 3.5 percent and likely stay there through the end of next year, the survey said. Most economists kept their growth forecast at 2.6 percent for this year, while revising down next year’s GDP projection to 1.9 percent from 2.1 percent.
INDONESIA
EV deadline for state firms
Jakarta is setting a three-year deadline for all state-owned companies to use only electric vehicles (EVs) as part of its goal of reaching net zero emissions by 2060. The government would also push state-run bus operators Perum PPD and DAMRI Public Corp to fully electrify their fleets, Minister of State-Owned Enterprises Erick Thohir said, without giving a timeline. They have about 3,500 buses combined, their most recent annual reports showed. Transportation contributes one-quarter of Indonesia’s energy-related emissions, second only to the power sector, a government study found.
CONGLOMERATES
Fosun halts HK trading
Chinese conglomerate Fosun International Ltd (復星國際) yesterday suspended stock trading in Hong Kong ahead of an upcoming announcement in what Bloomberg News reported would be the sale of its stake in a steel company to raise much needed liquidity. Fosun is one of a number of major Chinese companies with debt issues, facing as much as US$8 billion in bond repayments through next year. Bloomberg reported earlier that Fosun had agreed to sell its stake — about 60 percent — in the parent company of Nanjing Iron and Steel Co (南京鋼鐵) for 15 billion yuan (US$2.1 billion).
Shares of contract chipmaker Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) came under pressure yesterday after a report that Apple Inc is looking to shift some orders from the Taiwanese company to Intel Corp. TSMC shares fell NT$55, or 2.4 percent, to close at NT$2,235 on the local main board, Taiwan Stock Exchange data showed. Despite the losses, TSMC is expected to continue to benefit from sound fundamentals, as it maintains a lead over its peers in high-end process development, analysts said. “The selling was a knee-jerk reaction to an Intel-Apple report over the weekend,” Mega International Investment Services Corp (兆豐國際投顧) analyst Alex Huang
Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) is expected to remain Apple Inc’s primary chip manufacturing partner despite reports that Apple could shift some orders to Intel Corp, industry experts said yesterday. The comments came after The Wall Street Journal reported on Friday that Apple and Intel had reached a preliminary agreement following more than a year of negotiations for Intel to manufacture some chips for Apple devices. Taiwan Institute of Economic Research (台灣經濟研究院) economist Arisa Liu (劉佩真) said TSMC’s advanced packaging technologies, including integrated fan-out and chip-on-wafer-on-substrate, remain critical to the performance of Apple’s A-series and M-series chips. She said Intel and Samsung
TRANSITION: With the closure, the company would reorganize its Taiwanese unit to a sales and service-focused model, Bridgestone said Bridgestone Corp yesterday announced it would cease manufacturing operations at its tire plant in Hsinchu County’s Hukou Township (湖口), affecting more than 500 workers. Bridgestone Taiwan Co (台灣普利司通) said in a statement that the decision was based on the Tokyo-based tire maker’s adjustments to its global operational strategy and long-term market development considerations. The Taiwanese unit would be reorganized as part of the closure, effective yesterday, and all related production activities would be concluded, the statement said. Under the plan, Bridgestone would continue to deepen its presence in the Taiwanese market, while transitioning to a sales and service-focused business model, it added. The Hsinchu
Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) has approved a capital budget of US$31.28 billion for production expansion to meet long-term development needs during the artificial intelligence (AI) boom. The company’s board meeting yesterday approved the capital appropriation plan for purposes such as the installation of advanced technology capacity and fab construction, the world’s largest contract chipmaker said in a statement. At an earnings conference last month, TSMC forecast that its capital expenditure for this year would be at the higher end of the US$52 billion to US$56 billion range it forecast in January in response to robust demand for 5G, AI and
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