■ Stocks slide to five-week low
Shares fell to a five-week low yesterday on declines in US stocks overnight and on fears of higher taxes on employee share bonuses. The TAIEX dropped 94.28 points, or 1.36 percent, to 6,843.98, its lowest close since April 12. "Sustained selling pressure from foreign investors, following Wall Street's drop, weighed on technology shares today," Ta Ching Securities manager Daniel Liu said. A proposal in the legislature to increase the tax on share bonuses hit high-priced technology companies in particular, traders said. "If the bill is passed, companies will have to find other ways to retain outstanding employees," said President Securities Co (統一證券) manager Maggie Chien.
■ UMC plans share buyback
Shares of United Microelectronics Corp (UMC, 聯電), the world's second-largest made-to-order chip supplier, rose after the company said it planned to buy back as much as 2 percent of its own stock. The stake was valued at NT$8 billion (US$250 million) by the stock's closing price yesterday. UMC shares rose 1.5 percent to close at NT$20.1 on the Taiwan Stock Exchange. The chipmaker said on Monday that it would buy back as many as 400 million shares and write off 1 billion shares from a previous buyback. UMC plans to buy the shares at between NT$13.90 and NT$32.15 each, the company said in a statement to the Taiwan Stock Exchange on Monday after the market closed. The buyback will be completed by July 22, with the shares purchased to be earmarked for transfer to workers, the statement said.
■ Modine to shut Taiwan plant
Modine Manufacturing Co, a maker of heating and cooling product parts in Racine, Wisconsin, said on Monday it would cut about 200 jobs when it closes a plant in Taiwan. The company said the closure was part of a global restructuring plan. The company also said it would also offer early retirement to about 200 US salaried workers who were planning to retire soon. Modine said it expected to close the Taiwan plant within three months. The plant makes heat pipes for the personal computer and laptop market.
■ NT dollar still under pressure
Depreciation pressure building on the New Taiwan dollar has not been fully digested over the short term, with foreign investors presently showing no signs of slowing the pace of selling local currency and stocks, experts said yesterday. he NT dollar yesterday gained NT$0.154 against the US dollar and closed at NT$31.992 on the Taipei foreign exchange market. ealers forecast the NT dollar might hover around NT$32.3 and NT$32.8 against the greenback in the near term.
■ Consumption taxes low
China and India have emerged as the Asia-Pacific countries with the highest consumption taxes while Singapore, Taiwan and Japan feature the lowest, a PricewaterhouseCoopers report said yesterday. uch taxes are growing in popularity with governments because value-added taxes (VATs) and goods and services taxes (GSTs) allow authorities to raise revenue without stifling business growth. China's 17 percent consumption tax rate topped the VAT-GST table compiled by the firm. India and New Zealand followed with 12.5 percent. The Philippines came third with 10 percent while Australia, Cambodia, Indonesia, South Korea and Vietnam all have a 10 percent consumption tax rate. Singapore, Taiwan and Japan are all at 5 percent.
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
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
US CONSCULTANT: The US Department of Commerce’s Ursula Burns is a rarely seen US government consultant to be put forward to sit on the board, nominated as an independent director Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電), the world’s largest contract chipmaker, yesterday nominated 10 candidates for its new board of directors, including Ursula Burns from the US Department of Commerce. It is rare that TSMC has nominated a US government consultant to sit on its board. Burns was nominated as one of seven independent directors. She is vice chair of the department’s Advisory Council on Supply Chain Competitiveness. Burns is to stand for election at TSMC’s annual shareholders’ meeting on June 4 along with the rest of the candidates. TSMC chairman Mark Liu (劉德音) was not on the list after in December last