■ Stocks down over N Korea
Shares closed 1.18 percent lower yesterday as concerns over North Korea's nuclear test plans wiped out early gains inspired by the record close on Wall Street, dealers said.
With the five-day holiday starting tomorrow, investors opted to lock in profits from recent gainers, including China plays and financial shares, they said.
The TAIEX closed down 81.90 points at the day's low of 6,874.98 on turnover of NT$77.54 billion (US$2.35 billion).
Decliners led risers 746 to 371, with 133 stocks unchanged.
■ Citigroup upbeat on debt
Citigroup Taiwan expects the nation's consumer credit crisis to bottom out in the fourth quarter, a senior company executive said yesterday.
"According to our evaluation, the bad debt that most lenders wrote off peaked in the second quarter. It will take about six months to write off the rest of the bad debt," Victor Kuan (管國霖), country manager of Citibank's consumer banking business in Taiwan, told a news conference.
"Therefore, we expect the consumer credit crisis to bottom out in the fourth quarter," Kuan said.
■ New postings at the FSC
The Cabinet yesterday approved a slew of personnel changes in the Financial Supervisory Commission, with legal affairs director-general Austin Chan (詹庭禎) taking up the post of secretary-general, the commission said in a statement.
The Cabinet also promoted Yang Nan (楊柟), secretary-general of the commission's Banking Bureau, to bureau deputy director-general, while Chen Wei-lung (陳惟龍), deputy director-general of the Insurance Bureau, was named deputy director-general of the Securities and Futures Bureau.
Chen's spot will be filled by Insurance Bureau Secretary-General Tseng Yu-chiong (曾玉瓊), the commission said.
■ FSC strengthens S Africa ties
The Financial Supervisory Commission said on Tuesday that it had inked a memorandum of understanding (MOU) on bilateral financial supervisory cooperation in securities and the insurance industries with South Africa's Financial Services Board.
The renewed pact was the first agreement signed under the name of "FSC, Taiwan" with a country that is not a diplomatic ally. The securities and insurance sectors are covered in the same MOU, the commission said.
Taiwan has signed MOUs on bilateral financial supervisory collaboration with 24 countries, including the UK, France and the Netherlands, according to the financial watchdog.
■ AIG looking for targets
The American International Group (AIG) is looking for investment opportunities in Taiwan as part of plans to fuel its expansion and strengthen its commitment to local customers, said Martin Sullivan, AIG president and chief executive officer, yesterday in Taipei.
Sullivan was in town to attend the inauguration ceremony of the new headquarters of Nan Shan Life Insurance Co (南山人壽), AIG's subsidiary, in Taipei's bustling Xinyi District.
He said he had regularly discussed with Nan Shan Life chairman Edmund Tse (謝仕榮) whether there were appropriate targets for mergers.
Sales of life and non-life insurance currently account for 40 percent of AIG interests, while asset management accounts for around 20 percent, he added.
■ NT dollar falls
The New Taiwan dollar turned weak against its US counterpart yesterday, declining NT$0.065 to close at NT$33.120.
Turnover was US$742 million.
Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) halted shipments to a customer this month after its semiconductors were sent to China’s Huawei Technologies Co (華為), potentially breaching US sanctions, a government official said. The US slapped sanctions on Huawei in 2019, and expanded them the following year, over fears its technology could be used for Beijing’s espionage operations. The restrictions prevent TSMC from selling semiconductors to Huawei. However, TSMC discovered on Oct. 11 that chips made for a “specific customer” had ended up with the Chinese company, a Taiwanese official with knowledge of the incident said on the condition of anonymity. TSMC “immediately activated
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TECH TITANS: Nvidia briefly overtook Apple again on Friday after becoming the world’s largest company for a short period in June, as Microsoft fell to third place Nvidia Corp dethroned Apple Inc as the world’s most valuable company on Friday following a record-setting rally in the stock, powered by insatiable demand for its specialized artificial intelligence (AI) chips. Nvidia’s stock market value briefly touched US$3.53 trillion, slightly above Apple’s US$3.52 trillion, London Stock Exchange Group data showed. Nvidia ended the day up 0.8 percent, with a market value of US$3.47 trillion, while Apple’s shares rose 0.4 percent, valuing the iPhone maker at US$3.52 trillion. In June, Nvidia briefly became the world’s most valuable company before it was overtaken by Microsoft Corp and Apple. The tech trio’s market capitalizations have been
Shares of Starlux Airlines Co (星宇航空) surged more than 53 percent on its debut on the Taiwan stock exchange yesterday. Starlux shares closed up 53.75 percent at NT$30.75 from its initial public offering price of NT$20 after retreating in late trading from a 60 percent rise. China Airlines Ltd (CAL, 中華航空) rose 0.90 percent to close at NT$22.35, while EVA Airways Corp (長榮航空) gained 0.40 percent to close at NT$37.70. In Taiwan, a newly listed stock is allowed to go beyond the 10 percent maximum increase or decline in its first five trading sessions. At the listing ceremony, Starlux chairman Chang Kuo-wei (張國煒) said
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