Global shares yesterday retreated in thin trading as the year was ending.
Tokyo’s benchmark Nikkei 225 index ended 1 percent lower, at 39,894.54 points. The last trading session of the year ended on a somber note with the Japan Exchange Group CEO Hiromi Yamaji apologizing during the traditional year-end ceremony over a recent insider trading case.
“I acknowledge trust toward the market is essential for investors to trade with confidence,” Yamaji said.
Photo: AFP
The exchange is working to improve training and verify findings of an independent investigation, he said, adding that “we are doing are our utmost best to rebuild trust and prevent this from happening again.”
Overall, the Nikkei 225 index gained about 20 percent this year, finally surpassing the high seen before Japan’s asset bubble burst in the 1990s.
The yen was little changed after hitting 157.89 against the US dollar on Thursday, the lowest in almost six months.
South Korea’s KOSPI dropped 0.2 percent to 2,399.49 and shares of Jeju Air Co lost 8.7 percent after one of the company’s jets skidded off a runway, slammed into a concrete wall and burst into flames on Sunday, killing 179 of the 181 people aboard.
Another Jeju Air flight had to return after encountering a landing gear problem yesterday, the airline said.
Authorities ordered an inspection of all Boeing Co 737-800 aircraft operated by the country’s carriers.
The disaster was yet another blow for Boeing in a dispiriting year, following a machinists’ strike, further safety problems with its troubled top-selling aircraft and plunging stock price.
The TAIEX in Taipei was down 0.37 percent at 23,190.20.
“The TAIEX was again guided by US markets, with electronics stocks largely weaker,” Concord Securities Co (康和證券) analyst Kerry Huang (黃志祺) said.
“As many foreign institutional investors have not returned, turnover was light, leaving the TAIEX in consolidation,” Huang said.
The Hang Seng in Hong Kong lost 0.2 percent at 20,041.42, while the Shanghai Composite index gained 0.2 percent to 3,407.33. Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 dipped 0.3 percent to 8,235.00.
On Friday, the S&P 500 fell 1.1 percent. About 90 percent of stocks in the benchmark index lost ground, but it managed to hold onto a modest gain of 0.7 percent for the week.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 0.8 percent and the tech-heavy NASDAQ composite fell 1.5 percent.
The losses were worsened by sharp declines for big tech stocks known as the “Magnificent 7,” which can heavily influence the direction of the market because of their large size.
Despite Friday’s drop, the market is moving closer to another standout annual finish. The S&P 500 is on track for a gain of about 25 percent this year. That would mark a second consecutive yearly gain of more than 20 percent, the first time that has happened since 1997-1998.
Additional reporting by CNA and AFP
Taiwanese suppliers to Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. (TSMC, 台積電) are expected to follow the contract chipmaker’s step to invest in the US, but their relocation may be seven to eight years away, Minister of Economic Affairs J.W. Kuo (郭智輝) said yesterday. When asked by opposition Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Legislator Niu Hsu-ting (牛煦庭) in the legislature about growing concerns that TSMC’s huge investments in the US will prompt its suppliers to follow suit, Kuo said based on the chipmaker’s current limited production volume, it is unlikely to lead its supply chain to go there for now. “Unless TSMC completes its planned six
Intel Corp has named Tasha Chuang (莊蓓瑜) to lead Intel Taiwan in a bid to reinforce relations between the company and its Taiwanese partners. The appointment of Chuang as general manager for Intel Taiwan takes effect on Thursday, the firm said in a statement yesterday. Chuang is to lead her team in Taiwan to pursue product development and sales growth in an effort to reinforce the company’s ties with its partners and clients, Intel said. Chuang was previously in charge of managing Intel’s ties with leading Taiwanese PC brand Asustek Computer Inc (華碩), which included helping Asustek strengthen its global businesses, the company
Power supply and electronic components maker Delta Electronics Inc (台達電) yesterday said second-quarter revenue is expected to surpass the first quarter, which rose 30 percent year-on-year to NT$118.92 billion (US$3.71 billion). Revenue this quarter is likely to grow, as US clients have front-loaded orders ahead of US President Donald Trump’s planned tariffs on Taiwanese goods, Delta chairman Ping Cheng (鄭平) said at an earnings conference in Taipei, referring to the 90-day pause in tariff implementation Trump announced on April 9. While situations in the third and fourth quarters remain unclear, “We will not halt our long-term deployments and do not plan to
The New Taiwan dollar and Taiwanese stocks surged on signs that trade tensions between the world’s top two economies might start easing and as US tech earnings boosted the outlook of the nation’s semiconductor exports. The NT dollar strengthened as much as 3.8 percent versus the US dollar to 30.815, the biggest intraday gain since January 2011, closing at NT$31.064. The benchmark TAIEX jumped 2.73 percent to outperform the region’s equity gauges. Outlook for global trade improved after China said it is assessing possible trade talks with the US, providing a boost for the nation’s currency and shares. As the NT dollar
RSS