Stocks dropped for a second day, led by financial companies such as Cathay Financial Holding Co (國泰金控) and Chinatrust Financial Holding Co (中信金控).
The government has pushed back the timeframe for banks to meet lower bad-loan ratio targets, which will slow down a balance sheet clean-up, a local newspaper reported, citing a meeting chaired by Vice Premier Lin Hsin-i (林信義).
``Everybody is using stricter standards to judge financial holding companies now,'' said Belinda Yu, who manages NT$8 billion (US$230 million) of assets at Jih Sun Securities Investment Trust Co (
The TAIEX shed 54.48, or 1.2 percent, to close at 4,550.83. The benchmark rose as much as 1.5 percent in intra-day trading. Banks and insurers were the second-biggest decliners as a group. More than three stocks fell for every one that gained. The value of overall trade was NT$65.2 billion.
Cathay Financial, which owns the country's largest life insurer, fell NT$0.90, or 2.3 percent, to NT$38.50. Chinatrust Financial dropped NT$0.40, or 1.4 percent, to NT$29.30.
The Ministry of Finance now targets a cut in banks' average non-performing loan ratio to 6 percent by the end of the year and to 5 percent by the end of next year, according to the report. The two targets were initially scheduled for June and December this year, respectively.
Advanced Semiconductor Engineering Inc (
Stephen Garrett, a 27-year-old graduate student, always thought he would study in China, but first the country’s restrictive COVID-19 policies made it nearly impossible and now he has other concerns. The cost is one deterrent, but Garrett is more worried about restrictions on academic freedom and the personal risk of being stranded in China. He is not alone. Only about 700 American students are studying at Chinese universities, down from a peak of nearly 25,000 a decade ago, while there are nearly 300,000 Chinese students at US schools. Some young Americans are discouraged from investing their time in China by what they see
MAJOR DROP: CEO Tim Cook, who is visiting Hanoi, pledged the firm was committed to Vietnam after its smartphone shipments declined 9.6% annually in the first quarter Apple Inc yesterday said it would increase spending on suppliers in Vietnam, a key production hub, as CEO Tim Cook arrived in the country for a two-day visit. The iPhone maker announced the news in a statement on its Web site, but gave no details of how much it would spend or where the money would go. Cook is expected to meet programmers, content creators and students during his visit, online newspaper VnExpress reported. The visit comes as US President Joe Biden’s administration seeks to ramp up Vietnam’s role in the global tech supply chain to reduce the US’ dependence on China. Images on
New apartments in Taiwan’s major cities are getting smaller, while old apartments are increasingly occupied by older people, many of whom live alone, government data showed. The phenomenon has to do with sharpening unaffordable property prices and an aging population, property brokers said. Apartments with one bedroom that are two years old or older have gained a noticeable presence in the nation’s six special municipalities as well as Hsinchu county and city in the past five years, Evertrust Rehouse Co (永慶房產集團) found, citing data from the government’s real-price transaction platform. In Taipei, apartments with one bedroom accounted for 19 percent of deals last
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