Shares close lower \n \nShares ended lower yesterday after falls on Wall Street overnight and on profit-taking in the technology sector, analysts said. \nThe TAIEX closed 82.66 points, or 1.4 percent, lower at 6,060.46. \nDealings were valued at NT$58.34 billion (US$1.83 billion). Decliners well outnumbered advancers 639 to 116, while 122 issues ended the day unchanged. \nDealers said foreign investors, who have large holdings in the tech sector, led the sell-off, followed by domestic institutional investors in the afternoon. \nOne of the biggest tech decliners yesterday was Hon Hai Precision Industry Co (鴻海精密), whose stocks ended 5.2 percent lower at NT$138. \nShares in Taiwan's airlines went against the trend to rise on renewed hopes of direct flights between selected cities in China and Taiwan during the Lunar New Year holiday. \nEva Airways Corp (長榮) rose 1.3 percent to NT$15.9, while China Airlines (華航) closed flat at NT$18.4. \nHon Hai declines to detail IPO \n \nHon Hai Precision Industry Co (鴻海精密), Taiwan's largest electronics maker by sales, said details of the initial sale of shares in its mobile-phone unit, Foxconnwilson International Holdings (富士康), will be decided after the marketing effort is finished. \nThe company still needs to complete a marketing campaign to sell the shares, Hon Hai spokesman Edmund Ding (丁祈安) said in a telephone interview, responding to a Hong Kong Standard report that the initial offering would raise as much as HK$5 billion (US$642.8 million). No dollar amount has been set for the sale, Ding said. \nThe Lunar New Year holiday, which starts in the second week of next month, may impede plans for the sale, Ding said. He declined to comment on marketing plans for the handset unit. \nThe Hon Hai unit's shares may be sold in Hong Kong by the end of the month, the newspaper said. Foxconn plans to spend at least 60 percent of the proceeds of the sale to build five new plants, including one in Mexico and one in Hungary, the Standard said. \nTatung laptops in Wal-Mart \n \nTatung Co (大同) is selling laptop computers under its brand name for the first time in US outlets run by Wal-Mart Stores Inc, according to the world's largest discount retailer's Web site. \nThe Web site shows three Tatung laptop models for prices ranging from US$1,271 to US$998. \nTatung is trying to build its brand name in the US after gaining more recognition in the market from sales of its flat-panel televisions. \nTatung, Taiwan's fourth-largest electronics maker, on Dec. 23 cut its 2004 profit forecast after subsidiary Chunghwa Picture Tubes Ltd (中華映管) pared its outlook for net income, citing a decline in industry prices. \nNT dollar closes slightly up \n \nThe New Taiwan dollar pared losses on speculation some exporters took advantage of a slide in the currency to convert their overseas earnings. \nThe local currency closed NT$0.001 higher to end at NT$31.846 against the US dollar in Taipei, after dropping as much as 0.2 percent to NT$31.912. \nTurnover was US$604 million, down from US$838 million the previous day. \n"It appears there were quite a lot of exporter purchases of NT dollars above NT$31.85 today," said Gary Huang, a currency trader in Taipei at Union Bank of Taiwan (聯邦銀行). \n"Exporters believe that's an acceptable level" to buy the local currency, he said. \nThe NT dollar may trade between NT$31.70 and NT$32 this month, Huang said.
Polytronics Technology Corp (聚鼎科技) yesterday announced that it is buying Henkel AG’s thermal clad dielectric material (TCLAD) business division for US$26 million as the Taiwanese firm aims to improve its technology, product portfolio and revenue performance. Polytronics, headquartered in the Hsinchu Science Park (新竹科學園區), is a supplier of protection components and heat dissipation materials. The firm entered the metallic heat-dissipation substrate market in 2007 and developed a unique solventless production process. Its board of directors approved signing an agreement with Henkel to acquire the German chemical firm’s TCLAD division in the US. The purchase includes all assets and business interests, including equipment,
SIZE MATTERS: Medium-sized hotels that do not have the support of parent groups are more vulnerable and are forced to take action, a REPro Knight Frank researcher said About 50 hotels across Taiwan are seeking to exit the market as they succumb to the bleak business outlook amid international travel restrictions imposed to combat the COVID-19 pandemic. Yomi Hotel (優美飯店) on Minsheng E Road, Sec 1, in Taipei is seeking to transfer ownership with an asking price of NT$950 million (US$32.15 million) and a pledge for a lease contract that guarantees a 3 percent return. The budget hotel, with room rates that start from NT$1,400 per night, maintains normal operations, but has been struggling since March, when the government placed restrictions on inbound and outbound travel. Occupancy rates for hotels in
With the US dollar expected to weaken in the next 12 months due to near-zero interest rates, investors should consider purchasing US corporate bonds, Standard Chartered Bank Taiwan Ltd (渣打台灣銀行) said on Thursday. The bank said that the US Federal Reserve since last month has been buying bonds issued by US companies to curb default rates. The US dollar is forecast to be weaker against the pound, the euro and the yen, as well as the Canadian dollar, the Swedish krona and the Swiss franc, as the greenback lacks high investment returns after the Fed in March slashed the benchmark interest rate
‘SENSITIVE MARKETS’: The previously unannounced project would involve the company handing over control of data to a third party to sidestep privacy concerns Google has abandoned plans to offer a major new cloud service in China and other politically sensitive countries due in part to concerns over geopolitical tensions and the COVID-19 pandemic, two employees familiar with the matter said, revealing the challenges for US tech giants to secure business in those markets. In May, the search giant shut down the initiative, known as “Isolated Region” and which sought to address nations’ desires to control data within their borders, the employees said. The action was considered a “massive strategy shift,” said one of the employees, who added that Isolated Region had involved hundreds of employees
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