Credit card spending in Taiwan approached NT$1.54 trillion (US$51.35 billion) in the first half of the year to reach a five-year high, as people showed a renewed willingness to spend amid easing concerns over COVID-19, the Financial Supervisory Commission said last week.
The first-half figure was up NT$108.4 billion from the same period last year and marked the second-highest total for the six-month period since similar data were first compiled in 2018, commission data showed.
In June, credit card spending reached NT$264.4 billion, up NT$6.4 billion from May, which Banking Bureau Deputy Director-General Phil Tong (童政彰) on Thursday said was due to
Academia Sinica yesterday trimmed its forecast for Taiwan’s GDP growth this year from 3.85 percent to 3.52 percent, while raising its inflation forecast from 2.04 percent to 3.16 percent, saying the economy is losing momentum due to rising consumer prices and other downside risks.
“The economic performance for the rest of this year will not be as smooth and optimistic as previously predicted,” Academia Sinica research fellow Ray Chou (周雨田) told an online news conference, citing an overheating US economy, the Ukraine war, China’s COVID-19 lockdowns and supply chain disruptions.
Global inflation has been rising and major central banks are tightening monetary
The TAIEX yesterday extended its strength from the previous session to close above 14,500, as Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) attracted strong buying after it gave an upbeat sales guidance for the rest of this year, dealers said.
While TSMC, the world’s largest contract chipmaker, led the bellwether electronics sector and the broader market higher, financial and old economy stocks largely remained in the doldrums, which ensured turnover remained moderate, they said.
The TAIEX closed up 112.10 points, or 0.78 percent, at 14,550.62, on turnover of NT$226.758 billion (US$7.57 billion).
The market opened up 0.31 percent and fluctuated in a narrow range
The TAIEX yesterday slumped as it widened its decline from a January high to more than 19 percent and is just points away from a so-called bear market.
The index closed 2.7 percent lower yesterday, making it the worst performer in Asia. It was dragged by chipmakers after Bank of America took a cautious view on the industry’s growth prospects.
Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電), which accounts for more than one-quarter of the index’s weighting, dropped 3.05 percent to close at NT$476 yesterday.
The TAIEX tumbled 2.72 percent to 14,825.73.
Facing headwinds of rate hikes by global central banks, tech-heavy stock