EQUITIES
TAIEX rises due to TSMC
The TAIEX closed higher yesterday as contract chipmaker Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) rose for a third consecutive session. Dealers attributed the main board’s rally from an initial low to investors’ positive response to the US markets rebounding from earlier overnight losses. The TAIEX closed up 87.19 points, or 0.48 percent, at 18,375.40. Turnover totaled NT$284.890 billion (US$10.3 billion), with foreign institutional investors buying a net NT$12.75 billion of shares on the main board. TSMC rose 1.38 percent to close at NT$660. Due to its heavy weighting of about 30 percent of the main board, TSMC’s gains contributed 75 points to the TAIEX’s rise.
STEELMAKERS
Feng Hsin revenue up 52%
Steelmaker Feng Hsin Steel Co (豐興) yesterday posted NT$553 million in pretax income for last month, surging 52 percent from NT$364 million the previous year, the company said in a filing with the Taiwan Stock Exchange. That represented a monthly increase of 11.49 percent from NT$496 million, the company said. For the full year last year, pretax income jumped 56 percent to NT$5.04 billion, from NT$3.24 billion in 2020, it said. Consolidated revenue totaled NT$38.36 billion last year, up 40.52 percent from NT$27.3 billion a year earlier, it added.
ELECTRONICS
Sercomm station approved
Telecom equipment supplier Sercomm Corp (中磊) said its new 5G millimeter-wave (mmWave) small cell base station has obtained certification from the National Communications Commission, paving the way the product to be shipped to local telecoms. Sercomm beat local rivals in securing the certification, it said on Tuesday. Last year, the company obtained similar certification from the Federal Communications Commission for its 5G mmWave small cell base station, helping it to tap into the US market.
CHINA
Lending lower than forecast
New bank lending last month fell more than expected from the previous month, but lending for the whole of last year set a record, as the central bank maintained policy support to cushion the slowing economy. Banks last month extended 1.13 trillion yuan (US$177.51 billion) in new yuan loans, down from 1.27 trillion yuan in November and short of analysts’ expectations, data released yesterday by the People’s Bank of China showed. However, new bank lending hit a record 19.95 trillion yuan for the year, up 1.6 percent from 19.63 trillion yuan in 2020, the previous record.
FOREIGN EXCHANGE
Asian currencies could dip
Goldman Sachs Group Inc has warned that the New Taiwan dollar, South Korean won and Malaysian ringgit could weaken if growth stocks continue to slide. The underperformance of growth stocks coincides with weaker tech-centric emerging market currencies when risk sentiment is less favorable, Karen Reichgott Fishman, Goldman Sachs’ New York-based strategist, wrote in a note. The outlook for tighter monetary policy in the US and higher US Treasury yields have been weighing on technology shares globally, prompting a rotation from growth to value stocks. Asian currencies are under pressure as prospects of quicker rate hikes in the US bolster the greenback. The ringgit is Asia’s second worst-performing currency so far this year, with a loss of 0.4 percent, while the won is down 0.1 percent and the NT dollar is up 0.1 percent.
Intel Corp chief executive officer Lip-Bu Tan (陳立武) is expected to meet with Taiwanese suppliers next month in conjunction with the opening of the Computex Taipei trade show, supply chain sources said on Monday. The visit, the first for Tan to Taiwan since assuming his new post last month, would be aimed at enhancing Intel’s ties with suppliers in Taiwan as he attempts to help turn around the struggling US chipmaker, the sources said. Tan is to hold a banquet to celebrate Intel’s 40-year presence in Taiwan before Computex opens on May 20 and invite dozens of Taiwanese suppliers to exchange views
Application-specific integrated circuit designer Faraday Technology Corp (智原) yesterday said that although revenue this quarter would decline 30 percent from last quarter, it retained its full-year forecast of revenue growth of 100 percent. The company attributed the quarterly drop to a slowdown in customers’ production of chips using Faraday’s advanced packaging technology. The company is still confident about its revenue growth this year, given its strong “design-win” — or the projects it won to help customers design their chips, Faraday president Steve Wang (王國雍) told an online earnings conference. “The design-win this year is better than we expected. We believe we will win
Chizuko Kimura has become the first female sushi chef in the world to win a Michelin star, fulfilling a promise she made to her dying husband to continue his legacy. The 54-year-old Japanese chef regained the Michelin star her late husband, Shunei Kimura, won three years ago for their Sushi Shunei restaurant in Paris. For Shunei Kimura, the star was a dream come true. However, the joy was short-lived. He died from cancer just three months later in June 2022. He was 65. The following year, the restaurant in the heart of Montmartre lost its star rating. Chizuko Kimura insisted that the new star is still down
While China’s leaders use their economic and political might to fight US President Donald Trump’s trade war “to the end,” its army of social media soldiers are embarking on a more humorous campaign online. Trump’s tariff blitz has seen Washington and Beijing impose eye-watering duties on imports from the other, fanning a standoff between the economic superpowers that has sparked global recession fears and sent markets into a tailspin. Trump says his policy is a response to years of being “ripped off” by other countries and aims to bring manufacturing to the US, forcing companies to employ US workers. However, China’s online warriors
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