■ Electronics boost TAIEX
Share prices closed 0.45 percent higher yesterday, supported by key electronics blue chips Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) and United Microelectronics Corp (UMC, 聯電), dealers said. However, other major technology stocks fell as investors cashed in on early morning gains driven by the overnight rise on NASDAQ, they said. The TAIEX rose 29.57 points at 6,642.96, on turnover of NT$105.08 billion (US$3.26 billion). Decliners outnumbered risers 542 to 410, with 182 stocks unchanged. TSMC closed up NT$2.30 at NT$62.70 and UMC added NT$0.20 at NT$19.40.
■ Lawsuit threat over ETC fuss
Far Eastern Electronic Toll Collection Co (遠通電收) said it would take legal actions if its rivals and others continue to tarnish its reputation amid the uproar over its Electronic Toll Collection (ETC) system. The company has done nothing illegal and hoped thorough investigations could be launched soon to resolve the ETC dispute, it said in a statement. After a court ruled last week that the government had erred in picking the system, the number of ETC requests dropped dramatically, the company said, but "returned to more than 800 units on Wednesday." More than 90 people have applied for refunds for the required on-board units.
■ Chunghwa sweetens offer
Chunghwa Telecom Co (中華電信) is offering a new retirement program in a bid to rejuvenate its work force and boost efficiency, it said in a statement yesterday. The latest early retirement offering is the sixth program the company has offered since 2001. The program will run until the end of the month. Employees 47 years old and up are eligible. The new program offers up to 17 months salary as compensation, the statement said. Chunghwa Telecom has cut around 20 percent of its workforce in the past few years and has seen the number of employees drop from 35,000 to 27,500. The company wants to hire more young professionals to improve its competitiveness.
■ CDFH adds to portfolio
China Development Financial Holding Corp (CDFH, 中華開發金控), the nation's seventh-biggest financial services group by market value, has increased its stake in Taiwan International Securities Corp (金鼎證券) to 32.1 percent. China Development said in a statement late on Wednesday that it had bought 63 million shares, or 5.8 percent, of Taiwan International, which completed the merger of two smaller rivals -- First Securities Co (第一證券) and Far Eastern Securities Co (遠東證券) -- on Feb. 27.
■ Card debt talks succeeding
Negotiations on credit-card debt repayment have a success rate of more than 80 percent so far, Financial Supervisory Commission Chairman Kong Jaw-Sheng (龔照勝) said yesterday. "Out of the 14,000 card-debt inquiries from borrowers, 7,041 of 8,773 negotiations were successful, involving capital exceeding NT$10 billion," he said. Taishin International Bank (台新銀行) staff said that they receive 300 to 400 telephone inquiries about debt negotiations a day, and that the bank has resolved 300 cases so far. The commission said it receives around 1,000 phone calls a day from borrowers requesting credit-card debt talks with banks.
■ NT dollar slips
The New Taiwan dollar lost ground against its US counterpart yesterday, declining NT$0.027 to close at NT$32.310 on the Taipei foreign exchange market. Turnover was US$940 million.
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