INVESTMENT
Foreign share sales dive
Foreign investors last week sold a net NT$22.98 billion (US$776.04 million) in local shares after selling a net NT$107.81 billion a week earlier, the Taiwan Stock Exchange said in a statement yesterday. As of Friday, foreign investors had sold NT$913.014 billion in local shares since the beginning of the year, the exchange said. The top three shares sold by foreign investors last week were United Microelectronics Corp (聯電), China Steel Corp (中鋼) and Yang Ming Marine Transport Corp (陽明海運), while the top three shares bought by foreign investors were Innolux Corp (群創光電), Mega Financial Holding Co (兆豐金控) and First Financial Holding Co (第一金控), it said. As of Friday, the market capitalization of shares held by foreign investors was NT$19.08 trillion, or 40.12 percent of total market capitalization, it said.
RESTAURANTS
Thai chain optimistic
TTFB Co Ltd (瓦城泰統集團) yesterday gave an upbeat outlook for the second half of this year, as the number of local COVID-19 infections drop, domestic demand recovery expectations rise, and the food and beverage industry enters its high season. The company aims to boost its food delivery platform, integrate online and offline services, and leverage its strength in procurement to maximize profits and generate better returns for shareholders, the nation’s largest Thai and full-service restaurant chain operator said in a statement. TTFB shareholders yesterday approved the company’s plan to distribute a dividend of NT$7.15 per share, which represents a payout ratio of 101 percent based on earnings per share of NT$7.04 last year. The company made record earnings per share of NT$15.95 in 2020. As of the end of last month, the company operated 135 stores in Taiwan and four in China, it said.
ECONOMY
Tech demand boosts sales
Sales in the wholesale sector increased 7.9 percent year-on-year to NT$1.08 trillion last month, a record high for May, the Ministry of Economic Affairs said on Thursday. That came as growing demand for new technology applications and rising raw material prices pushed up wholesale machinery equipment sales 12.3 percent and construction materials 3.9 percent last month, while sales of pharmaceutical and cosmetic products jumped 50 percent, as hospitals and pharmacies increased their stocks, the ministry said in a statement. In the first five months, total wholesale sales increased 9.8 percent to NT$5.31 trillion, the highest for the five-month period on record, ministry data showed.
INSURANCE
Firms fined for breaches
The Financial Supervisory Commission on Thursday fined Taishin International Bank (台新銀行) NT$3 million and the Taiwan branch of Cardif Assurance Vie (法國巴黎人壽) NT$1.2 million, as the two firms contravened the Insurance Act (保險法) by failing to correctly inform their clients about purchases of investment-linked insurance policies. The commission said Taishn Bank’s agents encouraged three senior citizens to terminate their old insurance policies and use the surrender value to buy new investment-linked insurance products offered by Cardif Assurance. However, the bank pushed the transactions inappropriately by encouraging clients to terminate policies in advance and did not evaluate whether the new products fit the clients’ risk appetite, while the life insurer failed to examine the clients’ sources of funds for the new products, it said.
MULTIFACETED: A task force has analyzed possible scenarios and created responses to assist domestic industries in dealing with US tariffs, the economics minister said The Executive Yuan is tomorrow to announce countermeasures to US President Donald Trump’s planned reciprocal tariffs, although the details of the plan would not be made public until Monday next week, Minister of Economic Affairs J.W. Kuo (郭智輝) said yesterday. The Cabinet established an economic and trade task force in November last year to deal with US trade and tariff related issues, Kuo told reporters outside the legislature in Taipei. The task force has been analyzing and evaluating all kinds of scenarios to identify suitable responses and determine how best to assist domestic industries in managing the effects of Trump’s tariffs, he
TIGHT-LIPPED: UMC said it had no merger plans at the moment, after Nikkei Asia reported that the firm and GlobalFoundries were considering restarting merger talks United Microelectronics Corp (UMC, 聯電), the world’s No. 4 contract chipmaker, yesterday launched a new US$5 billion 12-inch chip factory in Singapore as part of its latest effort to diversify its manufacturing footprint amid growing geopolitical risks. The new factory, adjacent to UMC’s existing Singapore fab in the Pasir Res Wafer Fab Park, is scheduled to enter volume production next year, utilizing mature 22-nanometer and 28-nanometer process technologies, UMC said in a statement. The company plans to invest US$5 billion during the first phase of the new fab, which would have an installed capacity of 30,000 12-inch wafers per month, it said. The
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
‘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
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