EQUITIES
Foreigners net sellers
Foreign institutional investors last week sold a net NT$32.46 billion (US$1.06 million) of local shares, after selling a net NT$36.84 billion the previous week, the Taiwan Stock Exchange said yesterday. The top three shares sold by foreign investors last week were CTBC Financial Holding Co (中信金控), Shin Kong Financial Holding Co (新光金控) and E.Sun Financial Holding Co (玉山金控), while the top three bought by foreign investors were United Microelectronics Corp (聯電), King Yuan Electronics Co (京元電子) and Wistron Corp (緯創), the exchange said in a statement. As of Friday last week, foreign investors had bought NT$147.47 billion of local shares since the beginning of this year, while the market capitalization of the shares held by foreign investors was NT$19.66 trillion, or 40.61 percent of total market capitalization, it said.
CHIPMAKERS
IC exports fall again
The nation’s exports of integrated circuit chips to China and Hong Kong fell for a fourth month last month as Washington-Beijing tensions simmered and demand for electronics continued to drop off. Exports of ICs — which are pivotal components of electronic devices, computers and smartphones — to China and Hong Kong dropped 31.3 percent year-on-year, Ministry of Finance data showed. It was the worst decline since 2009, topping January’s 27.1 percent fall. China’s market share of Taiwanese IC exports plunged to the lowest level since February 2019, the data showed. The total amount of semiconductors Taiwan shipped worldwide last month declined 17.3 percent year-on-year.
ELECTRICITY
Individual meters touted
Taiwan Power Co (Taipower, 台電) on Sunday said that tenants who share electricity meters might wish to consider requesting a change of that arrangement, given the impending increase in rates. However, the installation of an independent meter for each unit in a building would require permission from the landlord, who in turn would have to apply to Taipower for a change in wiring and the addition of separate meters, the state-run company said. Meanwhile, tenants whose power consumption exceeds 700 kilowatt-hours per month can opt for a plan known as time-of-use rates, under which they can ask to shift some of their recorded usage to a period when electricity rates are lower, the company said. Taipower on Friday last week announced increased rates for domestic and business users starting on Saturday next week, which would be a 3 percent increase for households if their monthly electricity consumption exceeds 700 kilowatt-hours and 10 percent if monthly electricity consumption is more than 1,000 kilowatt-hours, the company said.
LIFE INSURANCE
Firms report net loss
The nation’s six major life insurers continued to report a combined net loss last month for a fifth consecutive month, in light of significant foreign exchange losses and volatility on global stock markets, data showed. Combined net losses last month at six life insurers totaled NT$1.17 billion, down from combined net losses of NT$7.8 billion a month earlier, while cumulative net losses for the first two months of the year totaled NT$8.98 billion, the data showed. Shin Kong Life Insurance Co (新光人壽) reported the highest net loss of NT$2.91 billion, followed by Cathay Life Insurance Co’s (國泰人壽) net loss of NT$1.18 billion.
To many, Tatu City on the outskirts of Nairobi looks like a success. The first city entirely built by a private company to be operational in east Africa, with about 25,000 people living and working there, it accounts for about two-thirds of all foreign investment in Kenya. Its low-tax status has attracted more than 100 businesses including Heineken, coffee brand Dormans, and the biggest call-center and cold-chain transport firms in the region. However, to some local politicians, Tatu City has looked more like a target for extortion. A parade of governors have demanded land worth millions of dollars in exchange
Hong Kong authorities ramped up sales of the local dollar as the greenback’s slide threatened the foreign-exchange peg. The Hong Kong Monetary Authority (HKMA) sold a record HK$60.5 billion (US$7.8 billion) of the city’s currency, according to an alert sent on its Bloomberg page yesterday in Asia, after it tested the upper end of its trading band. That added to the HK$56.1 billion of sales versus the greenback since Friday. The rapid intervention signals efforts from the city’s authorities to limit the local currency’s moves within its HK$7.75 to HK$7.85 per US dollar trading band. Heavy sales of the local dollar by
Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co’s (TSMC, 台積電) revenue jumped 48 percent last month, underscoring how electronics firms scrambled to acquire essential components before global tariffs took effect. The main chipmaker for Apple Inc and Nvidia Corp reported monthly sales of NT$349.6 billion (US$11.6 billion). That compares with the average analysts’ estimate for a 38 percent rise in second-quarter revenue. US President Donald Trump’s trade war is prompting economists to retool GDP forecasts worldwide, casting doubt over the outlook for everything from iPhone demand to computing and datacenter construction. However, TSMC — a barometer for global tech spending given its central role in the
An Indonesian animated movie is smashing regional box office records and could be set for wider success as it prepares to open beyond the Southeast Asian archipelago’s silver screens. Jumbo — a film based on the adventures of main character, Don, a large orphaned Indonesian boy facing bullying at school — last month became the highest-grossing Southeast Asian animated film, raking in more than US$8 million. Released at the end of March to coincide with the Eid holidays after the Islamic fasting month of Ramadan, the movie has hit 8 million ticket sales, the third-highest in Indonesian cinema history, Film
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