Taiwan's stocks fell yesterday, led by exporters such as Hon Hai Precision Industry Co (鴻海精密), as oil prices above US$60 a barrel fueled concern that higher energy costs will damp economic growth and consumer spending.
"Crude oil is the lingering threat to the global economy and overseas demand," said Liu Juming, a fund manager at Ta Chong Investment Trust Corp (
The TAIEX dropped 37.70, or 0.6 percent, to 6,302.99 at the 1:30 pm close in Taipei. About six stocks fell for every five that gained.
The index rose as much as 0.03 percent at 11:41am after a trader at Fubon Securities Co (富邦證券) erroneously bought NT$8 billion (US$223 million) worth of shares, instead of NT$800 million as the order placed by its client Merrill Lynch & Co, the company said.
The orders went to stocks such as Formosa Chemicals & Fiber Corp (
Formosa Chemicals, Taiwan's ninth-largest stock by market value, rose NT$0.10, or 0.2 percent, to NT$61.20. China Motor, Taiwan's biggest carmaker by market value, fell NT$0.25, or 0.7 percent, to NT$33.75. Both stocks jumped by the 7 percent allowed at around 11:39am, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.
Hon Hai Precision, Taiwan's largest electronics exporter, fell NT$4.50, or 2.6 percent, to NT$166.50. Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (台積電), the world's largest supplier of made-to-order computer chips, fell NT$0.10, or 0.2 percent, to NT$56.50.
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
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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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