Shares close up 1.76 percent
Share prices closed up 1.76 percent yesterday as bargain hunting offset the impact from Wall Street’s overnight losses, dealers said.
The weighted index rose 78.46 points to 4,532.36 on turnover of NT$49.72 billion (US$1.51 billion).
Gainers led losers by 945 to 545 with 256 stocks unchanged.
The local bourse closed up on short-covering led by tech shares and a rebound in financial shares, Daiwa Securities (大和證券) fund manager David Li (李衍磬) said.
Compal to halve spending
Compal Electronics Inc (仁寶電腦), the world’s second-largest maker of notebook computers, said it would halve spending this year as the global recession forced the company to scale back plans for new facilities in Vietnam.
“We want to control our capital spending and hold onto a high cash position because we don’t know how long this winter will last,” Chang Chih-ming (張志銘), a spokesman for the Taipei-based company, said in an interview yesterday.
Compal has cut the size of its planned Vietnam factory by at least a half, he said.
Compal spent NT$8 billion last year and plans around NT$4 billion in spending this year, Chang said.
Around NT$2 billion will be spent on facilities in China, compared with NT$2 billion to NT$3 billion last year, while NT$1 billion is planned for Vietnam and a further NT$1 billion will go toward its computer-casing business, Chang said.
BMW boosts sales in China
BMW AG, the world’s top luxury-car maker, boosted its sales in China by 28 percent last year as the country’s economic growth spurred demand for premium sedans.
The automaker sold a total of 65,822 BMW and Mini cars in mainland China, it said in an e-mailed statement yesterday.
Including sales in Hong Kong and Macau, as well as sales in Taiwan, the figure jumped 23 percent to 75,355 from a year earlier.
BMW’s gains in China contrast with its worldwide sales, which dipped 4.3 percent last year because of the global recession.
Central bank optimistic
The central bank issued its latest financial health report yesterday, saying the nation’s financial system remained relatively stable last year, compared with foreign counterparts, despite global financial market turmoil.
The monetary regulator said domestic banks were affected after Wall Street woes surfaced in the third quarter of last year, but the impact had been limited with the help of government measures such as a loose monetary policy and a guarantee on all bank deposits.
However, the central bank said it remained to be seen if financial risks would increase.
It is the second time the central bank has published such a report, intended to increase transparency in the domestic financial system.
Japan equipment sales to fall
Japan’s sales of equipment used to make chips and flat-panel displays will drop 37 percent this fiscal year as oversupply forces chipmakers to postpone spending plans, an industry group said.
Revenue from the machinery will probably fall to ¥1.42 trillion (US$16 billion) in the year ending March 31, the Semiconductor Equipment Association of Japan said in a statement yesterday.
Sales will probably extend declines next fiscal year, slumping 23 percent to ¥1.09 trillion, it said.
The forecast from the industry group echoes projections by UBS AG, which on Dec. 1 said that global semiconductor-equipment sales would fall 30 percent this year.
PROTECTION: The investigation, which takes aim at exporters such as Canada, Germany and Brazil, came days after Trump unveiled tariff hikes on steel and aluminum products US President Donald Trump on Saturday ordered a probe into potential tariffs on lumber imports — a move threatening to stoke trade tensions — while also pushing for a domestic supply boost. Trump signed an executive order instructing US Secretary of Commerce Howard Lutnick to begin an investigation “to determine the effects on the national security of imports of timber, lumber and their derivative products.” The study might result in new tariffs being imposed, which would pile on top of existing levies. The investigation takes aim at exporters like Canada, Germany and Brazil, with White House officials earlier accusing these economies of
EARLY TALKS: Measures under consideration include convincing allies to match US curbs, further restricting exports of AI chips or GPUs, and blocking Chinese investments US President Donald Trump’s administration is sketching out tougher versions of US semiconductor curbs and pressuring key allies to escalate their restrictions on China’s chip industry, an early indication the new US president plans to expand efforts that began under former US president Joe Biden to limit Beijing’s technological prowess. Trump officials recently met with their Japanese and Dutch counterparts about restricting Tokyo Electron Ltd and ASML Holding NV engineers from maintaining semiconductor gear in China, people familiar with the matter said. The aim, which was also a priority for Biden, is to see key allies match China curbs the US
Teleperformance SE, the largest call-center operator in the world, is rolling out an artificial intelligence (AI) system that softens English-speaking Indian workers’ accents in real time in a move the company claims would make them more understandable. The technology, called accent translation, coupled with background noise cancelation, is being deployed in call centers in India, where workers provide customer support to some of Teleperformance’s international clients. The company provides outsourced customer support and content moderation to global companies including Apple Inc, ByteDance Ltd’s (字節跳動) TikTok and Samsung Electronics Co Ltd. “When you have an Indian agent on the line, sometimes it’s hard
‘SACRED MOUNTAIN’: The chipmaker can form joint ventures abroad, except in China, but like other firms, it needs government approval for large investments Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) needs government permission for any overseas joint ventures (JVs), but there are no restrictions on making the most advanced chips overseas other than for China, Minister of Economic Affairs J.W. Kuo (郭智輝) said yesterday. US media have said that TSMC, the world’s largest contract chipmaker and a major supplier to companies such as Apple Inc and Nvidia Corp, has been in talks for a stake in Intel Corp. Neither company has confirmed the talks, but US President Donald Trump has accused Taiwan of taking away the US’ semiconductor business and said he wants the industry back
RSS