U.S. Tech suppliers restrict dealings with Huawei after Trump’s order | Calamatta Cuschieri

Today’s article gives an overview of the Maltese, European and U.S. markets on Tuesday, together with latest news about China’s technology giant

The Maltese market closed in the green on Tuesday, with MSE Equity Total Return Index ending the session 0.313% higher, to 9,675.862 points. Best performer was Simonds Farsons Cisk by adding 3% to close at 1030. Followed by Plaza Centres plc and BMIT Technologies plc which rose 1.01% and 0.93% to close at 1.00 and 0.54 respectively. Bank of Valletta plc gained 0.75% to 1.34, while Malta International Airport added 0.71% to 7.05. Biggest and only one fall was seen from HSBC Bank Malta plc. It shed 1.16% to close at 1.70. Lombard Bank Malta plc, International Hotel Investments plc, FIMBank plc and RS2 Software plc were active but closed unchanged.

European shares rose on Tuesday, with tech stocks contributing to gains as they recovered some ground lost in the previous session following a temporary easing of U.S. restrictions on China’s Huawei. The pan-European STOXX 600 gained 0.5%, with Germany’s trade-sensitive DAX rising 0.9%. London-traded stocks pared gains as the pound firmed on Prime Minister Theresa May’s comments about the next Brexit votes.

U.S. stocks ended solidly higher Tuesday after equity investors were buoyed by Washington's decision to grant a temporary reprieve on restrictions to China telecom giant Huawei Technologies Co.. The S&P 500 climbed 0.9% to finish near 2,864. The Dow Jones Industrial Average advanced 0.8%, to end around 25,877. The Nasdaq Composite climbed 1.1% to finish around 7,786.

The Chinese company’s products have effectively been blocked in the United States

The Chinese technology giant Huawei began to feel the painful ripple effects of a Trump administration order that effectively bars American firms from selling components and software to the company, ramping up a cold war between the two countries over technology and trade.

The fallout began when Google cut off support to Huawei in recent days for many Android hardware and software services, according to the companies. The move, a response to the Trump administration’s order last week, could hamstring Huawei by restricting its access to future versions of the Android operating system. Google will also limit access to popular applications like Maps, Gmail and the Google Play store in new handsets made by Huawei, the world’s second-largest smartphone maker, behind Samsung.

But Huawei was given a temporary reprieve from Google’s abrupt pullback by the Commerce Department, which last week had added Huawei to a list of companies deemed a national security risk, effectively preventing it from buying or licensing American parts and technology without special permission from Washington. The department said in a notice posted to the Federal Register that it would grant 90-day permissions for transactions necessary to maintain and support existing cellular networks and handsets.

Google said that it would work with Huawei during the 90 days to provide security updates to its Android operating system, but that it planned to abide by the Commerce Department’s orders when the period expired.

Chip makers have also started stepping back from dealings with the Chinese firm. The German supplier Infineon said that it would restrict its business with Huawei. And Intel and Qualcomm, two of the world’s largest chip makers, have told employees to cease working with the Chinese company until further notice.
 

This article was issued by Nadiia Grech, junior trader at Calamatta Cuschieri. For more information visit, www.cc.com.mt. The information, view and opinions provided in this article are being provided solely for educational and informational purposes and should not be construed as investment advice, advice concerning particular investments or investment decisions, or tax or legal advice. Calamatta Cuschieri Investment Services Ltd has not verified and consequently neither warrants the accuracy nor the veracity of any information, views or opinions appearing on this website.