Tue, May 23, 2023 page11

• Taiwan Business Quick Take

  • Staff writer, with agencies
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  EQUITIES

  US debt talks slow trade

  The TAIEX ended yesterday almost flat after a robust showing last week, as renewed concerns over debt ceiling negotiations in Washington reined in buying on the local main board. The bellwether electronics sector saw a pause in trade, with buying shifting to old-economy stocks, in particular in the electric machinery and tourism industries, due to growing domestic spending. That helped the TAIEX close up 5.97 points, or 0.04 percent, at 16,180.89 yesterday, after it soared 501.02 points, or 3.20 percent last week. Turnover on the main board totaled NT$247.046 billion (US$8.05 billion), with foreign institutional investors buying a net NT$7.13 billion of shares, Taiwan Stock Exchange data showed.

  SEMICONDUCTORS

  TSMC overtakes Tencent

  Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) has regained its lead over Internet giant Tencent Holdings Ltd (騰訊) as Asia’s biggest company by market value, assisted by a rally in chip stocks. Shares of TSMC fell 0.19 percent to close at NT$531 yesterday, but they have gained about 6 percent so far this month, taking the company’s market cap to nearly US$450 billion, supported by continued enthusiasm worldwide for artificial intelligence, as well as large incentives for local manufacturing being offered by nations such as Japan. Tencent has traded sideways in Hong Kong this month, hurt in part by disappointing advertising sales, despite an expected boost from China’s reopening. A resurgence in server chip demand in the second half and the introduction of new Apple Inc products should further boost TSMC’s share performance this year, Bloomberg Intelligence analyst Charles Shum (沈明) said.

  EQUITIES

  Foreigners buy net NT$78bn

  Foreign institutional investors last week bought a net NT$77.88 billion of local shares after selling a net NT$7.74 billion the previous week, the Taiwan Stock Exchange said in a statement yesterday. The top three shares bought by foreign investors last week were China Development Financial Holding Corp (中華開發金控), E.Sun Financial Holding Co (玉山金控) and China Airlines Ltd (中華航空), while the top three sold were Hon Hai Precision Industry Co (鴻海精密), Evergreen Marine Corp (長榮海運) and Taiwan Cement Corp (台灣水泥), the exchange said. As of Friday last week, foreign investors had bought NT$231.85 billion of local shares since the beginning of this year, while the market capitalization of shares held by foreign investors was NT$20.44 trillion, or 40.29 percent of total market capitalization, it said.

  CHINA

  Taiwan firms staying: poll

  Nearly 90 percent of Taiwanese firms have no intention of moving their manufacturing facilities away from China, but a sizable number plan to increase investment elsewhere to cope with risks linked to the US-China trade dispute and geopolitical tensions, a Chinese National Federation of Industries (全國工業總會) survey said. Of the firms surveyed with operations in China, 89.9 percent said they would keep their business scale, number of employees and investment plans unchanged in the next three to five years, although 64.7 percent were conservative about the Chinese market. Of the 54.6 percent of firms that plan to increase investment in other markets, only 10.1 percent said they would move their production lines and supply chains out of China, the survey said.
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