Taiwan Business Quick Take – Taipei Times

• Staff writer, with agencies

EQUITIES

Foreigners net sellers

Foreign institutional investors last week sold a net NT$32.46 billion (US$1.06 million) of local shares, after selling a net NT$36.84 billion the previous week, the Taiwan Stock Exchange said yesterday. The top three shares sold by foreign investors last week were CTBC Financial Holding Co (中信金控), Shin Kong Financial Holding Co (新光金控) and E.Sun Financial Holding Co (玉山金控), while the top three bought by foreign investors were United Microelectronics Corp (聯電), King Yuan Electronics Co (京元電子) and Wistron Corp (緯創), the exchange said in a statement. As of Friday last week, foreign investors had bought NT$147.47 billion of local shares since the beginning of this year, while the market capitalization of the shares held by foreign investors was NT$19.66 trillion, or 40.61 percent of total market capitalization, it said.

CHIPMAKERS

IC exports fall again

The nation’s exports of integrated circuit chips to China and Hong Kong fell for a fourth month last month as Washington-Beijing tensions simmered and demand for electronics continued to drop off. Exports of ICs — which are pivotal components of electronic devices, computers and smartphones — to China and Hong Kong dropped 31.3 percent year-on-year, Ministry of Finance data showed. It was the worst decline since 2009, topping January’s 27.1 percent fall. China’s market share of Taiwanese IC exports plunged to the lowest level since February 2019, the data showed. The total amount of semiconductors Taiwan shipped worldwide last month declined 17.3 percent year-on-year.

ELECTRICITY

Individual meters touted

Taiwan Power Co (Taipower, 台電) on Sunday said that tenants who share electricity meters might wish to consider requesting a change of that arrangement, given the impending increase in rates. However, the installation of an independent meter for each unit in a building would require permission from the landlord, who in turn would have to apply to Taipower for a change in wiring and the addition of separate meters, the state-run company said. Meanwhile, tenants whose power consumption exceeds 700 kilowatt-hours per month can opt for a plan known as time-of-use rates, under which they can ask to shift some of their recorded usage to a period when electricity rates are lower, the company said. Taipower on Friday last week announced increased rates for domestic and business users starting on Saturday next week, which would be a 3 percent increase for households if their monthly electricity consumption exceeds 700 kilowatt-hours and 10 percent if monthly electricity consumption is more than 1,000 kilowatt-hours, the company said.

LIFE INSURANCE

Firms report net loss

The nation’s six major life insurers continued to report a combined net loss last month for a fifth consecutive month, in light of significant foreign exchange losses and volatility on global stock markets, data showed. Combined net losses last month at six life insurers totaled NT$1.17 billion, down from combined net losses of NT$7.8 billion a month earlier, while cumulative net losses for the first two months of the year totaled NT$8.98 billion, the data showed. Shin Kong Life Insurance Co (新光人壽) reported the highest net loss of NT$2.91 billion, followed by Cathay Life Insurance Co’s (國泰人壽) net loss of NT$1.18 billion.