EQUITIES
Shares drop on US concerns
Local shares moved lower yesterday as turnover shrank ahead of the conclusion of a two-day policymaking meeting of the US Federal Reserve due later yesterday. Investors remained cautious throughout the session, with many wary of financial woes in the US banking sector, which pushed down shares on US markets overnight. The TAIEX closed down 83.07 points, or 0.53 percent, at 15,553.41, Taiwan Stock Exchange data showed. Turnover totaled NT$201.379 billion (US$6.55 billion), down from NT$224.355 billion on Tuesday, with foreign institutional investors selling a net NT$9.12 billion of shares on the main board, the exchange said.
ELECTRONICS
HTC posts reduced loss
HTC Corp (宏達電) yesterday reported yet another quarterly loss in the first quarter of this year, although it was its lowest loss in seven quarters. The company reported a net loss of NT$680 million in the January-to-March period, down from a net loss of NT$930 million a quarter earlier. Losses per share were NT$0.82, compared with NT$1.12 three months earlier. Dragged by its struggling smartphone business, HTC has reported a net loss nearly every quarter since the second quarter of 2015, except for the first quarter of 2018, when an asset sale helped it post a quarterly net profit. Gross margin continued to climb in the first quarter to 40.8 percent from 40.5 percent in the previous quarter, while revenue fell from NT$1.22 billion to NT$980 million over the period.
SHIPPING
TNC plans NT$2.2 payout
Taiwan Navigation Co’s (TNC, 台灣航業) board of directors yesterday proposed a cash dividend distribution of NT$2.2 per share, its highest payout since 2010. The planned dividend represents a payout ratio of 45.5 percent based on earning per share (EPS) of NT$4.83 last year. However, the bulk shipper saw net profit fall in the first quarter due to hikes in interest expenses and foreign exchange losses. Net profit declined 43 percent from a year earlier to NT$140 million, with EPS of NT$0.34. The shipper said it is cautious about its business outlook, citing a patchy economic recovery in China, ongoing trade tensions between China and the US, and global economic uncertainty, which might cause a sharp decline in the demand for bulk goods and negatively affect the rebound of freight rates for shippers.
INSURANCE
COVID-19 claims drop 70%
Non-life insurance companies’ COVID-19 insurance claims fell 70 percent last month from a month earlier to NT$3.33 billion, the lowest they have been this year, Financial Supervisory Commission data showed on Tuesday. The decrease in COVID-19 insurance claims came as the Central Epidemic Command Center in late March tightened its definition for confirmed COVID-19 cases to people with severe symptoms or those who need oxygen therapy. As of last month, total COVID-19 insurance claims had reached NT$268.3 billion since January last year, the commission’s data showed. The considerable payouts have added pressure to insurers’ bottom lines, with their combined net losses amounting to NT$167.7 billion last year, the commission said. To boost their capital adequacy, several insurers have raised NT$112.5 billion in fresh funds and three insurers are expected to inject another NT$30 billion by next month, 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
‘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
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
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