EQUITIES
Shares rise slightly
Shares closed slightly higher yesterday as the electronics sector gave up earlier gains with many investors reluctant to chase prices despite initial increases, dealers said. Buying switched to old economy stocks, in particular the transportation sector, which served as an anchor stabilizing the broader market amid lingering concerns over further volatility on global markets, they said. The TAIEX closed up 11.56 points, or 0.07 percent, at 16,156.41. Turnover totaled NT$232.94 billion (US$7.86 billion), with foreign institutional investors buying a net NT$2.03 billion of shares on the main board. The electronics sector fell 0.41 percent, with the semiconductor sub-index down 0.51 percent, while the transportation sector soared 6.43 percent and the financial sector rose 0.05 percent.
EQUITIES
Foreigners buy NT$2.18bn
Foreign investors last week bought a net NT$2.18 billion of local shares after selling a net NT$45.09 billion a week earlier, the Taiwan Stock Exchange said in a statement yesterday. As of Friday, foreign investors had sold NT$780.76 billion of local shares since the beginning of the year, the exchange said. Last week, the top three shares bought by foreign investors were United Microelectronics Corp (聯電), Hon Hai Precision Industry Co (鴻海精密) and Innolux Corp (群創光電), while the top three shares sold by foreign investors were Shin Kong Financial Holding Co (新光金控), China Steel Corp (中鋼) and E.Sun Financial Holding Co (玉山金控), it added. As of Friday, the market capitalization of shares held by foreign investors was NT$20.45 trillion, or 40.81 percent of total market capitalization, it said.
EQUITIES
Intraday odd-lot trading rises
The average daily amount of trades through the intraday odd-lot trading mechanism totaled NT$2.77 billion for the first four months, up 60 percent from a year earlier, the Financial Supervisory Commission said on Thursday. Although it was just a fraction of an average daily amount of NT$188 billion of all trades in the stock market, the growth indicated that the mechanism gained acceptance among investors, the commission said. The number of odd-lot traders grew to 1.21 million as of the end of last month, up from 320,000 before the intraday trading platform kicked off. About 29 percent are younger than 30. Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (台積電) shares were most favored by odd-lot traders, accounting for 44 percent of all shares traded under the mechanism, while MediaTek Inc (聯發科) was in second place with a market share of 7 percent, the commission’s data showed.
INSURANCE
FWD IPO approved
FWD Group Holdings Ltd (富衛集團), the Asian insurer backed by Hong Kong billionaire Richard Li (李澤楷), has won approval for its planned initial public offering (IPO) in Hong Kong, a person with knowledge of the matter said. The company received approval following a hearing on Thursday with the Hong Kong bourse’s listing committee, the person said. The company has not decided when to launch the IPO, they added. The insurer is seeking to raise about US$1 billion in the offering, Bloomberg News has reported. FWD filed an application for the first-time share sale in February, after deciding to switch its listing venue from the US, where it had filed for an IPO that could have raised as much as US$3 billion.
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Taiwan’s official purchasing managers’ index (PMI) last month rose 0.2 percentage points to 54.2, in a second consecutive month of expansion, thanks to front-loading demand intended to avoid potential US tariff hikes, the Chung-Hua Institution for Economic Research (CIER, 中華經濟研究院) said yesterday. While short-term demand appeared robust, uncertainties rose due to US President Donald Trump’s unpredictable trade policy, CIER president Lien Hsien-ming (連賢明) told a news conference in Taipei. Taiwan’s economy this year would be characterized by high-level fluctuations and the volatility would be wilder than most expect, Lien said Demand for electronics, particularly semiconductors, continues to benefit from US technology giants’ effort
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