Wholesale fuel prices reduced
Formosa Petrochemical Corp (台塑石化), the nation's second-largest oil refiner, yesterday announced that it has lowered the wholesale price of gasoline and fuel oil from midnight Wednesday.
The company cut the price of wholesale gasoline by NT$0.3 per liter, and that of fuel oil by NT$200 per kiloliter. The adjustment was made after international oil prices fell to a stable level, the company said in a statement.
State-run Chinese Petroleum Corp (中油) later yesterday announced the same price cut on its wholesale gasoline, which went into effect at 10pm yesterday.
Acer raises outlook
Acer Inc has raised its revenue and income targets for next year, based on robust growth this year, the company said yesterday.
Acer set its income target for next year at US$190 million and its revenue target at US$9 billion, up 67 percent and 35 percent respectively year-on-year, Acer said in a statement.
Revenue from Acer's IT-product business is forecast to be US$7.35 billion, up 36 percent year-on-year, accounting for 82 percent of Acer's consolidated revenue.
It after-tax profit target is US$229 million, close to this year's figure owing to fewer stock disposals.
Acer raised its target after its January-to-November revenue hit a record high of NT$205.15 billion (US$6.39 billion), up 47.2 percent year-on-year and surpassing Acer's whole-year target of NT$202.09 billion.
Banana program to continue
The Council of Agriculture (COA) will continue its pilot program next year to allow unrestricted exports of bananas, particularly to Japan.
Since 1974, the Taiwan Provincial Fruit Marketing Cooperative (TPFMC) has been the sole exporter of bananas to Japan -- Tai-wan's largest fruit export market.
Since the number of Taiwan bananas exported to Japan in recent years has declined, the COA decided to allow other organizations to export bananas to areas outside of Japan on a trial basis this year.
The TPFMC will still handle the majority of the Japanese market, but others will come on board to try to expand Taiwan's banana-export footprint in Japan.
Profit-taking caps TAIEX gains
Share prices closed 0.2 percent higher yesterday after profit-taking capped gains on continuing expectations of a liquidity-driven rally in January, dealers said.
The TAIEX closed up 12.37 points at 6,100.86, on turnover of NT$66.89 billion (US$2.1 billion). Decliners led gainers 362 to 331, with 185 stocks unchanged.
Many investors also chose to stay on the sidelines ahead of the central bank's monetary policy announcement.
The central bank later yesterday announced that it was raising its benchmark interest rate for the second straight quarter.
The bank increased its discount rate by one-eighth of a percentage point to 1.75 percent.
NT dollar slightly lower
The New Taiwan dollar fell NT$0.002 to close at NT$31.978 against the US dollar yesterday on the Taipei foreign exchange market. Turnover was US$738 million, up from US$724 million on Wednesday.
The local currency has gained 0.7 percent this month as foreign investors were net buyers of Taiwan's stocks for 13 days, totaling NT$46.4 billion (US$1.45 billion).
The unit is strengthening because the economy "still remains one of the out-performers. As a result, we should see the central bank allow for more appreciation" in the currency, said Craig Chan, an economist at Royal Bank of Scotland in Hong Kong.
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