EQUITIES
TAIEX takes a 1 percent hit
The TAIEX yesterday took a beating, falling more than 140 points, as investors were concerned about further foreign institutional selling ahead of the Christmas holiday. Downward pressure was seen across the board, with the bellwether electronics sector in focus as investors rushed to lock in gains built on large-cap tech stocks in recent sessions, dealers said. The TAIEX ended down 142.53 points, or 1 percent, at 14,068.52, on turnover of NT$273.017 billion (US$9.59 billion). Foreign institutional investors sold a net NT$16.52 billion of shares on the main board, compared with aggregate net sales of NT$12.93 billion from Dec. 1 to Monday, Taiwan Stock Exchange data showed. Analysts said that the nearest technical support for the TAIEX is expected at about 14,000 points, but if foreign investors continue to take their money and run before the holiday, it is possible the index could fall below that soon.
AUTO PARTS
Tong Yang profit rises 11%
Tong Yang Industry Co (東陽實業), which manufactures bumpers and automotive sheet metal products, yesterday said that pretax profit increased 11 percent to NT$107 million last month from NT$96.2 million in October on improved foreign-exchange losses, marking its third straight month of growth. On an annual basis, pretax profit plunged 66.8 percent, mostly due to a lack of air cargo and shipping containers, and surging transportation costs. Tong Yang booked NT$13.81 million in foreign exchange-losses last month, improving from NT$27.63 million a month earlier, the company said. In the first 11 months of the year, Tong Yang’s pretax profit reached NT$862 million, or earnings per share of NT$1.56.
ENERGY
Fortune Electric booming
Fortune Electric Co’s (華城電機) production lines are fully loaded with orders until July and the company said it expects double-digit growth in revenue next year, thanks to its successful position in the offshore wind and electric vehicle supply chains. Fortune Electric, which began as a maker of transformers, has expanded into solar power, offshore wind, energy storage and electric vehicle charging in the past few years, spokesman Ted Hsu (許逸德) said last week. It reported accumulated revenue of NT$6.47 billion in the first 11 months of the year, up 35.04 percent year-on-year. Net profit for the first three quarters was NT$304 million, up 40.8 percent from a year earlier, while earnings per share were NT$1.16, compared with NT$0.83.
BANKING
Cash acceptance required
The People’s Bank of China yesterday called for wider acceptance of cash in economic activities and vowed to punish those who refuse to accept cash payments due to a widening gap in access to digital services in China. As online payments via barcodes and third-party payment apps such as Alipay (支付寶) and Tenpay (財付通) have grown in popularity, some merchants and institutions have become reluctant to accept cash for reasons such as cost control or user experience, with the trend accelerated by the COVID-19 pandemic, the bank said in a notice. “Renminbi [yuan] cash is the most basic means of payment. Entities or individuals cannot refuse to accept it,” it said, adding that it would investigate and punish firms or individuals who refuse to accept cash or adopt discriminatory measures against cash payments.
Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) yesterday obtained the government’s approval to inject an additional US$7.5 billion into its US subsidiary, the Department of Investment Review said in a statement. The department approved TSMC’s application of investing in TSMC Arizona Corp, which is engaged in the manufacturing, sales, testing and design of IC and other semiconductor devices, it said. The latest capital injection follows a US$5 billion investment for TSMC Arizona approved in June. The chipmaker has broken ground on two advanced fabs in Arizona with aggregated investments approved by the department totaling US$24 billion thus far. According to TSMC, the first Arizona
The lethal hack of Hezbollah’s Asian-branded pagers and walkie-talkies has sparked an intense search for the devices’ path, revealing a murky market for older technologies where buyers might have few assurances about what they are getting. While supply chains and distribution channels for higher-margin and newer products are tightly managed, that is not the case for older electronics from Asia where counterfeiting, surplus inventories and complex contract manufacturing deals can sometimes make it impossible to identify the source of a product, analysts and consultants say. The response from the companies at the center of the booby-trapped gadgets that killed 37
FRIENDLY TAKEOVER: While Qualcomm Inc’s proposal to buy some or all of Intel raises the prospect of other competitors, Broadcom Inc is staying on the sidelines Qualcomm Inc has approached Intel Corp to discuss a potential acquisition of the struggling chipmaker, people with knowledge of the matter said, raising the prospect of one of the biggest-ever merger and acquisition deals. California-based Qualcomm proposed a friendly takeover for Intel in recent days, said the sources, who asked not to be identified discussing confidential information. The proposal is for all of the chipmaker, although Qualcomm has not ruled out buying some parts of Intel and selling off others. It is uncertain whether the initial approach would lead to an agreement and any deal is likely to come under close antitrust scrutiny
SECURITY CONCERNS: The proposed ban on Chinese autonomous vehicle software and hardware would go into effect with the 2027 and 2030 model years respectively The US Department of Commerce today is expected to propose prohibiting Chinese software and hardware in connected and autonomous vehicles on US roads due to national security concerns, two sources said. US President Joe Biden’s administration has raised concerns about the collection of data by Chinese companies on US drivers and infrastructure as well as the potential foreign manipulation of vehicles connected to the Internet and navigation systems. The proposed regulation would ban the import and sale of vehicles from China with key communications or automated driving system software or hardware, said the two sources, who declined to be identified because the