Computer-related stocks rose this week, led by Tokyo Electron Ltd and Samsung Electronics Co, after earnings at Intel Corp and other US companies beat some analysts' estimates.
"Good corporate earning results from the US are certainly going to have a positive influence on the technology stocks here," said Fumiyasu Sato, who helps manage the equivalent of US$1.2 billion in Japanese equities at CDC IXIS Asset Management Japan Co. "Worries about their growth prospects are easing."
Japan's Nikkei 225 Stock Average advanced for the first week in three, gaining 0.7 percent. The KOSPI index in South Korea rose 7.2 percent, its third weekly gain.
Carmakers that rely on US demand, such as Toyota Motor Corp and Hyundai Motor Co, gained after a rally by US stock benchmarks boosted optimism that consumer confidence in their largest overseas market may improve.
Benchmarks in Hong Kong and Singapore ended the week lower as a deadly respiratory disease dented confidence. Sun Hung Kai Properties Ltd led declines after the South China Morning Post said Hong Kong developers are cutting prices as fear the disease is spreading kept people from viewing apartments.
Singapore Airlines Ltd slid after the Business Times said the carrier may cut workers if severe acute respiratory syndrome, or SARS, continues to damp travel demand.
Markets in Australia, New Zealand, Hong Kong, Singapore, Indonesia, Philippines, India, the US and Europe were shut for public holidays yesterday.
Tokyo Electron, the world's second-largest maker of semiconductor production equipment, rose 7.8 percent to Japanese Yen 4,560.
The company had its biggest weekly gain since the five days ended Nov. 29, 2002. Rohm Co, a maker of custom chips, gained 10 percent for the week, it's biggest weekly rally since the five days ended Oct. 18, 2002. Shares of both companies were among the seven biggest contributors to the weekly gain in the TOPIX index, which rose 1.1 percent for the period.
Samsung Electronics, which claimed the No. 2 spot in chip sales behind Intel last year, surged 11 percent this week and was the biggest booster to the KOSPI. The company said it expects to sell more chips and flat screens this quarter. Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (
Toshiba Corp, which said it will develop software with IBM, added 5.9 percent this week.
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
Taiwan Transport and Storage Corp (TTS, 台灣通運倉儲) yesterday unveiled its first electric tractor unit — manufactured by Volvo Trucks — in a ceremony in Taipei, and said the unit would soon be used to transport cement produced by Taiwan Cement Corp (TCC, 台灣水泥). Both TTS and TCC belong to TCC International Holdings Ltd (台泥國際集團). With the electric tractor unit, the Taipei-based cement firm would become the first in Taiwan to use electric vehicles to transport construction materials. TTS chairman Koo Kung-yi (辜公怡), Volvo Trucks vice president of sales and marketing Johan Selven, TCC president Roman Cheng (程耀輝) and Taikoo Motors Group
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