EQUITIES
TAIEX dips on profit-taking
The TAIEX closed slightly lower yesterday, after coming off a historical intraday high, as investors locked in their gains from the first two sessions of this year, dealers said. Contract chipmaker Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電), which had been a driver of the main board’s gains in the previous two sessions, was affected by profit-taking, dealers said. TSMC fell 0.91 percent to close at NT$650. Buying rotated to select old economy and financial stocks, which lent support to the broader market, they said. The TAIEX closed down 26.39 points, or 0.14 percent, at 18,499.96. Turnover totaled NT$337.983 billion (US$12.24 billion), with foreign institutional investors buying a net NT$9.34 billion of shares on the main board, Taiwan Stock Exchange data showed.
AUTO PARTS
BizLink revenue up 6.59%
Wire harness maker BizLink Holding Inc (貿聯控股) yesterday posted revenue of NT$2.88 billion for last month, up 6.59 percent month-on-month and 44.13 percent year-on-year. BizLink, the sole supplier of wiring harnesses for battery management systems in Tesla Inc Model 3s, said in a statement that last month’s revenue rose above US$100 million for the first time in the company’s history. “Healthy year-end demand boosted sales, with shipments to data center customers rising, but shipments to electrical appliance customers slowing, while shipments to customers in our other segments stayed stable,” the company said. Total revenue for the whole of last year grew 27.03 percent year-on-year to NT$28.68 billion, the company said.
MANUFACTURING
Airtac profit up despite virus
Pneumatic components supplier Airtac International Group (亞德客) yesterday reported consolidated revenue of NT$2.25 billion for last month, up 16.87 percent month-on-month and 13.74 percent year-on-year, as the company’s shipments gradually returned to normal, despite the unstable COVID-19 situation and power restrictions. “Although the [COVID-19] pandemic situation in some cities in China [has been] unstable recently, the company’s production and shipments have not been affected, with both orders and shipments remaining good in the first couple days of January,” Airtac said in a statement. The company said its overall revenue for the whole of last year grew 32.96 percent to a record of NT$25.4 billion. It is optimistic about its operations this year, so it aims to maintain a 110 percent production utilization rate to increase inventory and meet traditional peak-season demand from March, Airtac said.
ELECTRONICS
Lite-On posts record revenue
Electronic components supplier Lite-On Technology Corp (光寶科技) yesterday reported record revenue of NT$15.06 billion for last month, up 0.94 percent from a month earlier and 12.04 percent from a year earlier. The company said its information technology and consumer electronics business, which accounted for 56 percent of its total sales, posted annual growth of 15 percent in sales last month. That was thanks to healthy shipments of notebook PC power adapters and power supplies for gaming, as well as keyboards and mice, coupled with smooth delivery of laser models of multifunction peripherals, it said. The company’s optoelectronics, and cloud and artificial intelligence of things segments reported 8 and 5 percent increases in sales respectively. Due to solid demand from its core business, cumulative sales for whole of last year totaled NT$164.83 billion, up 4.91 percent from 2020.
‘SWASTICAR’: Tesla CEO Elon Musk’s close association with Donald Trump has prompted opponents to brand him a ‘Nazi’ and resulted in a dramatic drop in sales Demonstrators descended on Tesla Inc dealerships across the US, and in Europe and Canada on Saturday to protest company chief Elon Musk, who has amassed extraordinary power as a top adviser to US President Donald Trump. Waving signs with messages such as “Musk is stealing our money” and “Reclaim our country,” the protests largely took place peacefully following fiery episodes of vandalism on Tesla vehicles, dealerships and other facilities in recent weeks that US officials have denounced as terrorism. Hundreds rallied on Saturday outside the Tesla dealership in Manhattan. Some blasted Musk, the world’s richest man, while others demanded the shuttering of his
ADVERSARIES: The new list includes 11 entities in China and one in Taiwan, which is a local branch of Chinese cloud computing firm Inspur Group The US added dozens of entities to a trade blacklist on Tuesday, the US Department of Commerce said, in part to disrupt Beijing’s artificial intelligence (AI) and advanced computing capabilities. The action affects 80 entities from countries including China, the United Arab Emirates and Iran, with the commerce department citing their “activities contrary to US national security and foreign policy.” Those added to the “entity list” are restricted from obtaining US items and technologies without government authorization. “We will not allow adversaries to exploit American technology to bolster their own militaries and threaten American lives,” US Secretary of Commerce Howard Lutnick said. The entities
Minister of Finance Chuang Tsui-yun (莊翠雲) yesterday told lawmakers that she “would not speculate,” but a “response plan” has been prepared in case Taiwan is targeted by US President Donald Trump’s reciprocal tariffs, which are to be announced on Wednesday next week. The Trump administration, including US Secretary of the Treasury Scott Bessent, has said that much of the proposed reciprocal tariffs would focus on the 15 countries that have the highest trade surpluses with the US. Bessent has referred to those countries as the “dirty 15,” but has not named them. Last year, Taiwan’s US$73.9 billion trade surplus with the US
Prices of gasoline and diesel products at domestic gas stations are to fall NT$0.2 and NT$0.1 per liter respectively this week, even though international crude oil prices rose last week, CPC Corp, Taiwan (台灣中油) and Formosa Petrochemical Corp (台塑石化) said yesterday. International crude oil prices continued rising last week, as the US Energy Information Administration reported a larger-than-expected drop in US commercial crude oil inventories, CPC said in a statement. Based on the company’s floating oil price formula, the cost of crude oil rose 2.38 percent last week from a week earlier, it said. News that US President Donald Trump plans a “secondary
RSS