PHARMACEUTICALS
Biotech shares in demand
The biotechnology sector on the local main board yesterday rose 1.89 percent, compared with the TAIEX’s 0.09 percent increase, as investors continued to buy biotech stocks on expectations that an outbreak of COVID-19 in China would push up demand for drugs. “But the gains were mainly driven by expectations,” Concord Capital Management Corp (康和投顧) analyst Lu Chin-wei (呂晉維) said, adding that the expectations also lifted the biotech sector on the over-the-counter market by 1.23 percent. However, the gains might be short-lived, as “investors still want to see real sales numbers to back up the expectations,” Lu said. Among biotech stocks, China Chemical & Pharmaceutical Co (中化製藥), Chunghwa Chemical Synthesis & Biotech Co (中化合成生技) and Sinphar Pharmaceutical Co (杏輝藥品) soared 10 percent, the maximum daily increase.
EQUITIES
Foreigners are net sellers
Foreign investors last week sold a net NT$31.42 billion (US$1.02 million) of local shares after selling a net NT$18.46 billion the previous week, the Taiwan Stock Exchange said in a statement yesterday. As of Friday, foreign investors had sold NT$1.21 trillion of local shares since the beginning of the year, it said. The top three shares sold by foreign investors last week were SinoPac Financial Holdings Co (永豐金控), CTBC Financial Holding Co (中信金控) and Yuanta Financial Holding Co (元大金控), while the top three shares bought by foreign investors were China Steel Corp (中鋼), Taiwan Cement Corp (台灣水泥) and Yang Ming Marine Transport Corp (陽明海運). As of Friday, the market capitalization of shares held by foreign investors was NT$17.72 trillion, or 39.75 percent of total market capitalization, the exchange said.
INSURANCE
Tokio Marine injects capital
Japan’s Tokio Marine & Nichido Fire Insurance Co has won the Investment Commission’s permission to inject fresh capital into its Taiwanese unit in light of rising claims for COVID-19 insurance policies. The Japanese firm is to inject NT$2.66 billion into Tokio Marine Newa Insurance Corp (新安東京海上產險) to increase the local unit’s working capital and in response to rising payouts for COVID-19 insurance policies, the commission said in a statement. The commission also approved Denmark’s Orsted Wind Power TW Holding A/S injecting NT$11.99 billion into Greater Changhua Offshore Wind Farm NW Ltd (大彰化西北離岸風力發電) for its offshore wind projects in Taiwan, it added.
PROPERTY
Huaku sells Taipei complex
Luxury housing developer Huaku Development Co (華固建設) yesterday said it sold a commercial complex, which is under construction in the Beitou Shilin Science Park (北投士林科技園區) in Taipei, to BAM Asset Management Co (寶元開發) for NT$4.59 billion. The Huaku Trade and Finance Center (華固樂富中心) project is composed of an office building with 14 floors above ground and four basement floors on about 6,185 ping (20,446m2) of land, as well as 135 parking spaces, Huaku said in a regulatory filing. The unit price of the sale is about NT$694,200 per ping, it said. Construction of the complex is expected to be completed in September or October, the company said, without specifying the potential gains from the sale. The company reported revenue of NT$14.46 billion in the first three quarters of the year, or earnings per share of NT$10.9. BAM Asset Management is a property development unit of textile maker Jang Dah Nylon Industrial Corp (正大尼龍).
WEAKER ACTIVITY: The sharpest deterioration was seen in the electronics and optical components sector, with the production index falling 13.2 points to 44.5 Taiwan’s manufacturing sector last month contracted for a second consecutive month, with the purchasing managers’ index (PMI) slipping to 48, reflecting ongoing caution over trade uncertainties, the Chung-Hua Institution for Economic Research (CIER, 中華經濟研究院) said yesterday. The decline reflects growing caution among companies amid uncertainty surrounding US tariffs, semiconductor duties and automotive import levies, and it is also likely linked to fading front-loading activity, CIER president Lien Hsien-ming (連賢明) said. “Some clients have started shifting orders to Southeast Asian countries where tariff regimes are already clear,” Lien told a news conference. Firms across the supply chain are also lowering stock levels to mitigate
IN THE AIR: While most companies said they were committed to North American operations, some added that production and costs would depend on the outcome of a US trade probe Leading local contract electronics makers Wistron Corp (緯創), Quanta Computer Inc (廣達), Inventec Corp (英業達) and Compal Electronics Inc (仁寶) are to maintain their North American expansion plans, despite Washington’s 20 percent tariff on Taiwanese goods. Wistron said it has long maintained a presence in the US, while distributing production across Taiwan, North America, Southeast Asia and Europe. The company is in talks with customers to align capacity with their site preferences, a company official told the Taipei Times by telephone on Friday. The company is still in talks with clients over who would bear the tariff costs, with the outcome pending further
Six Taiwanese companies, including contract chipmaker Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電), made the 2025 Fortune Global 500 list of the world’s largest firms by revenue. In a report published by New York-based Fortune magazine on Tuesday, Hon Hai Precision Industry Co (鴻海精密), also known as Foxconn Technology Group (富士康科技集團), ranked highest among Taiwanese firms, placing 28th with revenue of US$213.69 billion. Up 60 spots from last year, TSMC rose to No. 126 with US$90.16 billion in revenue, followed by Quanta Computer Inc (廣達) at 348th, Pegatron Corp (和碩) at 461st, CPC Corp, Taiwan (台灣中油) at 494th and Wistron Corp (緯創) at
NEGOTIATIONS: Semiconductors play an outsized role in Taiwan’s industrial and economic development and are a major driver of the Taiwan-US trade imbalance With US President Donald Trump threatening to impose tariffs on semiconductors, Taiwan is expected to face a significant challenge, as information and communications technology (ICT) products account for more than 70 percent of its exports to the US, Chung-Hua Institution for Economic Research (CIER, 中華經濟研究院) president Lien Hsien-ming (連賢明) said on Friday. Compared with other countries, semiconductors play a disproportionately large role in Taiwan’s industrial and economic development, Lien said. As the sixth-largest contributor to the US trade deficit, Taiwan recorded a US$73.9 billion trade surplus with the US last year — up from US$47.8 billion in 2023 — driven by strong
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