Annual growth of the nation’s money supply last month picked up in the narrow M1B gauge and retreated slightly in the broad M2 gauge, as Taiwanese investors raised their holdings in local shares and foreign bonds, the central bank said yesterday.
The M1B money supply measure, which refers to cash and cash equivalents, grew 5 percent from a year earlier, compared with a 4.94 percent increase the previous month, central bank data showed.
The securities account balance last month soared by a record NT$179.9 billion (US$5.55 billion) to a fresh peak of NT$3.56 trillion, the bank said.
Photo: CNA
The advance in M1B and the securities account balance had much to do with a bullish TAIEX and the number of transactions, central bank research official Tsao Ti-jen (曹體仁) told an online news conference.
The TAIEX ended last month at a record high of 21,107 points with margin trading, a risk appetite indicator, swelling to NT$409.5 billion, the highest since June 2008, Tsao said.
The main board has benefited from capital inflows from foreign and local investors who are aiming to take advantage of the artificial intelligence boom, he said.
Meanwhile, retail Taiwanese investors displayed more interest in the local bourse than institutional players and were responsible for 56.3 percent of overall transactions, Tsao said.
A poll conducted last week by Cathay Financial Holding Co (國泰金控) found that 47.3 percent of Taiwanese are expecting the TAIEX to rise further in the coming six months and 37 percent plan to channel their cash into stock investments.
The M2 money supply measure, which encompasses time deposits, time saving deposits, foreign currency deposits, mutual funds and M1B, grew 6.04 percent year-on-year last month, slowing from an annual increase of 6.06 percent a month earlier, the central bank said.
The retreat was due to Taiwanese trimming their time deposits and increasing their positions in foreign bonds on the expectation that the US Federal Reserve would lower interest rates later this year, Tsao said.
Interest rate cuts would boost bond prices.
Semiconductor shares in China surged yesterday after Reuters reported the US had ordered chipmaking giant Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) to halt shipments of advanced chips to Chinese customers, which investors believe could accelerate Beijing’s self-reliance efforts. TSMC yesterday started to suspend shipments of certain sophisticated chips to some Chinese clients after receiving a letter from the US Department of Commerce imposing export restrictions on those products, Reuters reported on Sunday, citing an unnamed source. The US imposed export restrictions on TSMC’s 7-nanometer or more advanced designs, Reuters reported. Investors figured that would encourage authorities to support China’s industry and bought shares
FLEXIBLE: Taiwan can develop its own ground station equipment, and has highly competitive manufacturers and suppliers with diversified production, the MOEA said The Ministry of Economic Affairs (MOEA) yesterday disputed reports that suppliers to US-based Space Exploration Technologies Corp (SpaceX) had been asked to move production out of Taiwan. Reuters had reported on Tuesday last week that Elon Musk-owned SpaceX had asked their manufacturers to produce outside of Taiwan given geopolitical risks and that at least one Taiwanese supplier had been pushed to relocate production to Vietnam. SpaceX’s requests place a renewed focus on the contentious relationship Musk has had with Taiwan, especially after he said last year that Taiwan is an “integral part” of China, sparking sharp criticism from Taiwanese authorities. The ministry said
CHANGING JAPAN: Nvidia-powered AI services over cellular networks ‘will result in an artificial intelligence grid that runs across Japan,’ Nvidia’s Jensen Huang said Softbank Group Corp would be the first to build a supercomputer with chips using Nvidia Corp’s new Blackwell design, a demonstration of the Japanese company’s ambitions to catch up on artificial intelligence (AI). The group’s telecom unit, Softbank Corp, plans to build Japan’s most powerful AI supercomputer to support local services, it said. That computer would be based on Nvidia’s DGX B200 product, which combines computer processors with so-called AI accelerator chips. A follow-up effort will feature Grace Blackwell, a more advanced version, the company said. The announcement indicates that Softbank Group, which until early 2019 owned 4.9 percent of Nvidia, has secured a
CARBON REDUCTION: ‘As a global leader in semiconductor manufacturing, we recognize our mission in environmental protection,’ TSMC executive Y.P. Chyn said Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電), the world’s biggest contract chipmaker, yesterday launched its first zero-waste center in Taichung to repurpose major manufacturing waste, which translates into savings of NT$1.5 billion (US$46 million) in environmental costs a year. The environmental cost savings include a carbon reduction benefit of 40,000 tonnes, equivalent to the carbon offset of over 110 Daan Forest Parks, the chipmaker said. The Taichung Zero Waste Manufacturing Center is part of the chipmaker’s greater efforts to reach its net zero emissions goal in 2050, aligning with the UN’s 12th Sustainable Development Goal. The center could reduce TSMC’s outsourced waste processing
RSS