Macquarie bearish on property
Macquarie Group Ltd cut its price estimate for Taiwanese real-estate stocks by 20 percent on concern government tightening and equity declines will slow property sales in the second half of the year.
“After a strong selling pace in the high season in March-April, we saw the selling pace started to come off in May,” analyst Corinne Jian (簡秋萍) said in a report dated Friday but distributed yesterday. “It will become more difficult for housing prices to increase in the remainder of the year.”
Rising property prices have spurred the central bank to pledge to prevent asset bubbles, while some state-owned lenders raised mortgage rates and reduced loans for luxury homes. The TAIEX has plunged 10 percent this year, Asia’s second worst-performer, on concern tightening in China and Europe’s debt crisis will derail global economic growth.
Taiwan’s property sector has outperformed its Chinese peers by 23 percent in the past 12 months and the net asset value premium is “far more expensive” than other Asian real-estate shares, Macquarie said.
The brokerage expects developers to “catch up with the underperformance in the region,” Jian said.
The brokerage reduced its 12-month share-price estimate for Cathay Real Estate Development Co (國泰建設), the second-largest construction company in Taiwan, while lowering its recommendation to “neutral” from “outperform.”
Green Energy to seek loans
The board of Green Energy Technology Inc (綠能科技) approved a plan to raise as much as NT$2.8 billion (US$86.21 million) in loans from a group of banks, led by Taipei Fubon Bank (台北富邦銀行), the Taipei-based company said in an exchange filing yesterday.
The funds will be used to expand production capacity and repay debts, the statement said.
Separately, Taiwan Top Power Holdings Co (台灣桃電投資), owned by Japan’s Marubeni Corp, received loans worth NT$6.8 billion due in 2020, data compiled by Bloomberg showed.
The biggest of the three loans, for NT$5.56 billion, will be used for acquisition purposes and was arranged by Cathay United Bank Co (國泰世華銀) and First Commercial Bank Co (一銀), the data show.
Tanker joint venture formed
The board of Chinese Maritime Transport Ltd (中國航運) approved a plan to form a oil tanker freight venture with CPC Corp (中油) and U-Ming Marine Transport Corp (裕民), the Taipei-based company said in an exchange filing yesterday.
Chinese Maritime will take a 26 percent stake in the NT$10 billion venture, the statement said.
Largan GM named chairman
The board of Largan Precision Co (大立光), the nation’s leading maker of handset lenses, yesterday promoted its general manager Tony Chen (陳世卿) to chairman, replacing founder and chairman Scott Lin (林耀英).
Lin will remain as chairman of Largan’s parent company, while one of his son will become Largan vice chairman and and the other will become CEO.
NT dollar gains
The New Taiwan dollar rose to its highest level in more than a week on optimism the nation will sign a trade pact with China this month, helping spur exports to the world’s fastest-growing major economy.
Overseas funds bought US$292 million more of Taiwanese equities than they sold yesterday, a third day of net purchases, data compiled by Bloomberg showed.
“At this stage, the trade deal is helping attract overseas funds,” Lucas Lee, an economist at Mega Securities Co (兆豐證券).
The NT dollar rose 0.3 percent to close at NT$32.351 against its US counterpart on tureover of US$584 million.
It was late morning and steam was rising from water tanks atop the colorful, but opaque-windowed, “soapland” sex parlors in a historic Tokyo red-light district. Walking through the narrow streets, camera in hand, was Beniko — a former sex worker who is trying to capture the spirit of the area once known as Yoshiwara through photography. “People often talk about this neighborhood having a ‘bad history,’” said Beniko, who goes by her nickname. “But the truth is that through the years people have lived here, made a life here, sometimes struggled to survive. I want to share that reality.” In its mid-17th to
‘MAKE OR BREAK’: Nvidia shares remain down more than 9 percent, but investors are hoping CEO Jensen Huang’s speech can stave off fears that the sales boom is peaking Shares in Nvidia Corp’s Taiwanese suppliers mostly closed higher yesterday on hopes that the US artificial intelligence (AI) chip designer would showcase next-generation technologies at its annual AI conference slated to open later in the day. The GPU Technology Conference (GTC) in California is to feature developers, engineers, researchers, inventors and information technology professionals, and would focus on AI, computer graphics, data science, machine learning and autonomous machines. The event comes at a make-or-break moment for the firm, as it heads into the next few quarters, with Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang’s (黃仁勳) keynote speech today seen as having the ability to
NEXT GENERATION: The company also showcased automated machines, including a nursing robot called Nurabot, which is to enter service at a Taichung hospital this year Hon Hai Precision Industry Co (鴻海精密) expects server revenue to exceed its iPhone revenue within two years, with the possibility of achieving this goal as early as this year, chairman Young Liu (劉揚偉) said on Tuesday at Nvidia Corp’s annual technology conference in San Jose, California. AI would be the primary focus this year for the company, also known as Foxconn Technology Group (富士康科技集團), as rapidly advancing AI applications are driving up demand for AI servers, Liu said. The production and shipment of Nvidia’s GB200 chips and the anticipated launch of GB300 chips in the second half of the year would propel
The battle for artificial intelligence supremacy hinges on microchips, but the semiconductor sector that produces them has a dirty secret: It is a major source of chemicals linked to cancer and other health problems. Global chip sales surged more than 19 percent to about US$628 billion last year, according to the Semiconductor Industry Association, which forecasts double-digit growth again this year. That is adding urgency to reducing the effects of “forever chemicals” — which are also used to make firefighting foam, nonstick pans, raincoats and other everyday items — as are regulators in the US and Europe who are beginning to
RSS