Stocks gained yesterday, led by companies being added to the Morgan Stanley Capital Interna-tional Emerging Markets Index such as Chi Mei Optoelectronics Corp (奇美電子), Quanta Display Inc (廣輝電子) and Shin Kong Financial Holdings Co (新光金控).
The TAIEX added 72.43, or 1.2 percent, to 5,958.79. About 10 stocks gained for every one that fell. Taiex futures due in May rose 1.4 percent to 5,942.
"The MSCI decision is a much needed boost to investor confidence," said Tracy Chen, a fund manager at Prudential Securities Investment Trust Co (
It's "good news at last after talks about interest rate hikes and China's economic cool down," she said.
Chi Mei Optoelectronics rose 5.5 percent to NT$67.50. Shin Kong Financial rose 1.5 percent to NT$27.70. Quanta Display rose 5.3 percent to NT$25.70.
Taiwanese companies account for 11 of the stocks joining MSCI indexes, the second biggest in Asia. The changes take effect at the close of trading May 28, MSCI said in announcing its annual review of the indexes' members.
Dealers said the positive lead from Wall Street overnight and MSCI's announcement enabled the market to extend its technical bounce. However, profit-taking and stop-loss selling emerged in late trade to cap the early gains, they said.
"It was simply a technical rebound," said Michael Hsu (許派一), an assistant vice president with Jih Sun Securities Investment Consulting Co (日盛投顧).
"Those stocks which suffered a significant correction previously led the recovery Wednesday, while some bellwether electronics lost steam given [fragile] market confidence," he said.
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