Taiwanese share prices closed 1.05 percent lower yesterday amid growing concerns about the global financial crisis, despite the US Senate’s approval of a bailout package for the finance industry, dealers said.
The weighted index fell 60.29 points to 5,703.72 on turnover of NT$66.46 billion (US$2.08 billion).
Losers outnumbered gainers 912 to 672, with 401 shares unchanged.
The key electronics sector, an engine of Taiwan’s export industry, fell 1.84 percent amid concerns it might take a hard hit while consumers were reluctant to spend on electronic products in the difficult times, analysts said.
“Like its peers in the region, the local market also opened high but closed low. Investors cashed out in the early trade,” Chen Yu-yu (陳育榆) of Capital Securities (群益證券) said.
“Investors feared the US bailout package could not help its financial crisis ... the outlook for the global economy is dim over the long term,” he said.
Elsewhere in Asia, investors remained cautious with most major indexes falling, as traders decided to await the outcome of another vote in the House of Representatives expected on Friday.
The House’s rejection of the original US$700 billion plan on Monday sent world stock markets into a tailspin, a week after they had plummeted following the collapse of Lehman Brothers.
Tokyo shed 1.88 percent to end at a three-year low, while Sydney eased by 0.7 percent and Seoul slipped 1.39 percent.
But Hong Kong recorded a rise of more than 1 percent, while Singapore was also better off, lifting 0.2 percent.
Many markets were closed because of public holidays.
“People are just hanging on the US decision,” said James Foulsham, CMC Markets head of trading in Australia.
“We saw some news on that this morning, but until we get a firmer view one way or the other, I think people are going to stay out of the market because it’s too risky,” he said.
However, in Japan the Nikkei ended at its lowest level since May 2005, with traders also jittery about the prospects for the rest of the economy.
Exporters were hammered, dragging the index, as the US dollar slipped, making it more expensive to buy Japanese goods.
But Hong Kong was up due to a strong rally in Ping An Insurance (平安保險), which ended a plan to buy half the asset management arm of troubled European bank Fortis, dealers said.
In other markets Wellington rose 1.4 percent and Manila gained 1.68 percent.
TECH SECURITY: The deal assures that ‘some of the most sought-after technology on the planet’ returns to the US, US Secretary of Commerce Gina Raimondo said The administration of US President Joe Biden finalized its CHIPS Act incentive awards for Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電), marking a major milestone for a program meant to bring semiconductor production back to US soil. TSMC would get US$6.6 billion in grants as part of the contract, the US Department of Commerce said in a statement yesterday. Though the amount was disclosed earlier this year as part of a preliminary agreement, the deal is now legally binding — making it the first major CHIPS Act award to reach this stage. The chipmaker, which is also taking up to US$5 billion
TRADE WAR: Tariffs should also apply to any goods that pass through the new Beijing-funded port in Chancay, Peru, an adviser to US president-elect Donald Trump said A veteran adviser to US president-elect Donald Trump is proposing that the 60 percent tariffs that Trump vowed to impose on Chinese goods also apply to goods from any country that pass through a new port that Beijing has built in Peru. The duties should apply to goods from China or countries in South America that pass through the new deep-water port Chancay, a town 60km north of Lima, said Mauricio Claver-Carone, an adviser to the Trump transition team who served as senior director for the western hemisphere on the White House National Security Council in his first administration. “Any product going
CHANGING JAPAN: Nvidia-powered AI services over cellular networks ‘will result in an artificial intelligence grid that runs across Japan,’ Nvidia’s Jensen Huang said Softbank Group Corp would be the first to build a supercomputer with chips using Nvidia Corp’s new Blackwell design, a demonstration of the Japanese company’s ambitions to catch up on artificial intelligence (AI). The group’s telecom unit, Softbank Corp, plans to build Japan’s most powerful AI supercomputer to support local services, it said. That computer would be based on Nvidia’s DGX B200 product, which combines computer processors with so-called AI accelerator chips. A follow-up effort will feature Grace Blackwell, a more advanced version, the company said. The announcement indicates that Softbank Group, which until early 2019 owned 4.9 percent of Nvidia, has secured a
CARBON REDUCTION: ‘As a global leader in semiconductor manufacturing, we recognize our mission in environmental protection,’ TSMC executive Y.P. Chyn said Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電), the world’s biggest contract chipmaker, yesterday launched its first zero-waste center in Taichung to repurpose major manufacturing waste, which translates into savings of NT$1.5 billion (US$46 million) in environmental costs a year. The environmental cost savings include a carbon reduction benefit of 40,000 tonnes, equivalent to the carbon offset of over 110 Daan Forest Parks, the chipmaker said. The Taichung Zero Waste Manufacturing Center is part of the chipmaker’s greater efforts to reach its net zero emissions goal in 2050, aligning with the UN’s 12th Sustainable Development Goal. The center could reduce TSMC’s outsourced waste processing
RSS