European stocks fell from a six month-high this past week, as Greece’s coalition government failed to agree on the remaining spending cuts needed to obtain financial aid from the EU and stave off a default.
The STOXX Europe 600 Index fell 1.3 percent to 261.24 this week, retreating from its highest level since July 29. The benchmark measure has still rallied 22 percent from its two-year low on Sept. 22 and 6.8 percent from the start of this year as the European Central Bank (ECB) lent 489 billion euros (US$645 billion) to banks and investors speculated that the currency area would contain its sovereign-debt crisis.
European stocks dropped 0.9 percent on Friday as George Karatzaferis, who heads one of the three parties supporting Greek Prime Minister Lucas Papademos’ government, said he would not vote for the austerity measures needed to get additional rescue funds from the EU.
Fifteen of the 19 industry groups in the STOXX 600 declined this past week, with mining companies dropping the most. The IMF said the euro area’s debt crisis would cut China’s economic expansion almost in half if it worsens. Based on the IMF’s “downside” forecast for the global economy, China’s growth would drop by as much as 4 percentage points from the fund’s current projection for an expansion of 8.2 percent this year, the organization said in a report released by its China office in Beijing on Monday last week.
VALUABLE STOCK: The company closed at NT$1,005 a share, on demand for AI and HPC chips, and is expected to issue a positive report during its earnings conference Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) shares rose 2.66 percent to close at a record high of NT$1,005 yesterday. as investors expect the company to continue benefiting from strong demand for artificial intelligence (AI) and high-performance computing (HPC) chips. TSMC is the 19th member of the local bourse’s NT$1,000 stock club, which includes smartphone chip designer MediaTek Inc (聯發科) and electric transformer manufacturer Fortune Electric Co (華城電機). Yesterday’s rally swelled TSMC’s market capitalization to NT$26.06 trillion (US$802.3 billion) and contributed about 211 points to the TAIEX, which closed up 350.1 points, or 1.51 percent, to 23,522.53, another record high, Taiwan Stock
Nvidia Corp CEO Jensen Huang (黃仁勳) unloaded shares worth nearly US$169 million last month, the most he has netted in a single month, as insatiable demand for the chips used to power artificial intelligence (AI) drove the stock to fresh peaks. The sale of 1.3 million shares, his first of the year, came during a month when Nvidia’s market value rose above US$3 trillion for the first time. That briefly made it the world’s most valuable company and pushed Huang, 61, into the rarefied group of ultra-rich with fortunes above US$100 billion. The series of transactions were executed under a 10b5-1 trading
Google on Monday said it is planning to invest in New Green Power Co (NGP, 永鑫能源), a solar energy developer owned by BlackRock Inc, to build 1 gigawatt of solar capacity in Taiwan to supply clean energy for its local data center and offices. “Our investment in NGP, subject to regulatory approval, will serve as development capital toward its 1 GW pipeline of new solar projects, catalyzing critical equity and debt financing for those projects,” Google’s Data Center Energy global head Amanda Peterson Corio wrote on a company blog. It did not disclose financial details. “We expect to procure up to 300 megawatts
Luxgen Motor Co (納智捷汽車), a subsidiary of Yulon Motor Co (裕隆汽車), yesterday said it is again offering a NT$100,000 discount for its entry-level n7 electric vehicle models. The n7’s price has gone down from NT$1.099 million to NT$999,000, Luxgen said, adding that there are 25,000 preorders for the model. MG Motor’s electric hatchback, the MG4, entered the market in the middle of last month, with a starting price of NT$990,000. China Motor Corp (中華汽車), which distributes MG vehicles in Taiwan, said it aims to sell 1,600 MG4s this year. MG, originally a British brand, was acquired by China’s SAIC Motor