EQUITIES
TAIEX closes below 17,200
The TAIEX yesterday closed below 17,200 points, as investors turned cautious after foreign institutional investors recorded a net sale a session earlier, ending six sessions of buying. The bellwether electronics sector led the downturn as investors locked in strong gains. However, in the last few minutes before the end of the session, Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (台積電) was the focus of bargain hunting, helping the broader market recoup some of its earlier losses. The TAIEX closed down 89.65 points, or 0.52 percent, at 17,184.91. Before yesterday, the benchmark index had risen 4.2 percent so far this month, following a 6.42 percent increase last month, Taiwan Stock Exchange data showed. Turnover on the main board totaled NT$311.226 billion (US$10.1 billion), with foreign institutional investors selling a net NT$1.78 billion of shares after Monday’s net selling of NT$4.43 billion, exchange data showed.
BROKERAGES
Firms’ profit soars 67.79%
Securities firms reported combined net profit of NT$5.93 billion for last month, up 67.79 percent from the previous month, the Taiwan Stock Exchange (TWSE) said yesterday. As total TWSE trading value grew 45.84 percent month-on-month to NT$5.71 trillion last month, securities firms reported an increase in brokerage fee income from the previous month, the exchange said. Net profit from dealers trading increased 106.22 percent and net underwriting income soared 108.3 percent from the previous month. In the first five months of this year, accumulated net profit among securities firms totaled NT$25.58 billion, up 65.44 percent from the same period last year, it said.
CURRENCY
NT dollar to strengthen
The New Taiwan dollar might gain against the US dollar in the fourth quarter, when the market starts considering the next monetary move by the US Federal Reserve, Cathay United Bank (國泰世華銀行) chief economist Lin Chi-chao (林啟超) said on Monday. However, there is a slim chance of rate cuts by Fed before the year’s end, Lin said. The NT dollar yesterday declined NT$0.094 against the US currency to close at NT$30.89 in Taipei trading. The local currency dropped 9.83 percent versus the greenback last year and has fallen 0.59 percent so far this year. Meanwhile, Lin said he expects a soft landing in the global economy this year, as a booming service industry helps mitigate the effects of the sluggish manufacturing industry.
RESEARCH
ITRI to collaborate in France
The Industrial Technology Research Institute (ITRI, 工研院) signed a memorandum of understanding on 6G technologies collaboration with leading French research institute EURECOM at the EuCNC & 6G Summit in Gothenburg, Sweden, on June 9, ITRI said in a statement yesterday. Under the agreement, the two side would collaborate on areas including joint communication and sensing (JCAS), reconfigurable intelligent surface (RIS) and open radio access network architecture, the statement said. The cooperation is expected to open up opportunities for industries, academia and research institutions in Taiwan to participate in the EU’s 6G project proposals and early-stage verification and testing, it said. JCAS technology facilitates the integration of radar perception for the base station industry, and RIS technology meets the energy-saving and low-power consumption requirements of leading communication companies, it added.
EXTRATERRITORIAL REACH: China extended its legal jurisdiction to ban some dual-use goods of Chinese origin from being sold to the US, even by third countries Beijing has set out to extend its domestic laws across international borders with a ban on selling some goods to the US that applies to companies both inside and outside China. The new export control rules are China’s first attempt to replicate the extraterritorial reach of US and European sanctions by covering Chinese products or goods with Chinese parts in them. In an announcement this week, China declared it is banning the sale of dual-use items to the US military and also the export to the US of materials such as gallium and germanium. Companies and people overseas would be subject to
TECH COMPETITION: The US restricted sales of two dozen types of manufacturing equipment and three software tools, and blacklisted 140 more Chinese entities US President Joe Biden’s administration unveiled new restrictions on China’s access to vital components for chips and artificial intelligence (AI), escalating a campaign to contain Beijing’s technological ambitions. The US Department of Commerce slapped additional curbs on the sale of high-bandwidth memory (HBM) and chipmaking gear, including that produced by US firms at foreign facilities. It also blacklisted 140 more Chinese entities that it accused of acting on Beijing’s behalf, although it did not name them in an initial statement. Full details on the new sanctions and Entity List additions were to be published later yesterday, a US official said. The US “will
TENSE TIMES: Formosa Plastics sees uncertainty surrounding the incoming Trump administration in the US, geopolitical tensions and China’s faltering economy Formosa Plastics Group (台塑集團), Taiwan’s largest industrial conglomerate, yesterday posted overall revenue of NT$118.61 billion (US$3.66 billion) for last month, marking a 7.2 percent rise from October, but a 2.5 percent fall from one year earlier. The group has mixed views about its business outlook for the current quarter and beyond, as uncertainty builds over the US power transition and geopolitical tensions. Formosa Plastics Corp (台灣塑膠), a vertically integrated supplier of plastic resins and petrochemicals, reported a monthly uptick of 15.3 percent in its revenue to NT$18.15 billion, as Typhoon Kong-rey postponed partial shipments slated for October and last month, it said. The
COLLABORATION: The operations center shows the close partnership between Taiwan and Japan in the field of semiconductors, Minister of Economic Affairs J.W. Kuo said Tokyo Electron Ltd, Asia’s biggest semiconductor equipment supplier, yesterday launched a NT$2 billion (US$61.5 million) operations center in Tainan as it aims to expand capacity and meet growing demand. Its new Taiwan Operations Center is expected to help customers release their products faster, boost production efficiency and shorten equipment repair time in a cost-effective way, the company said. The center is about a five-minute drive from the factories of its major customers such as Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co’s (TSMC, 台積電) advanced 3-nanometer and 2-nanometer fabs. The operations center would have about 1,000 employees when it is fully utilized, the company
RSS