■ Shares down
Shares fell yesterday, as traders sold stocks in technology firms after gains in the previous two sessions.
The TAIEX dropped 19.71 points, or 0.3 percent, to 6,442.61.
Turnover totaled NT$69.09 billion (US$2.1 billion), down from the previous session's NT$80.06 billion.
"The volume was too low to support a bullish sentiment, and investors are usually more cautious on a Friday," said Capital Securities (群益證券) equity sales trader Diana Wu.
■ Yahoo-Kimo unveils sweeteners
Facing mounting dissatisfaction from users, Yahoo-Kimo Inc (雅虎奇摩), Taiwan's largest auctioneer, announced yesterday that it would delay the collection of transaction and handling fees from next Thursday to Sept. 1, according to a company statement.
Yahoo-Kimo also announced several incentives to users. From Sept. 1 to the end of the year, sellers can get a 15 percent discount on their handling fees, the statement said. In the same period, sellers can get more discounts on transaction and handling fees if their expenses exceed NT$5,000 per month, the statement said.
Yahoo-Kimo's plan to charge sellers transaction and handling fees worth 3 percent of the concluding price of their trades, on top of a NT$3 listing fee per item has incurred overwhelming opposition from users, who threatened to launch a protest against the company and move their business to other auction sites.
■ Reserves see slight rise
The nation's foreign exchange re-serves amounted to US$260.37 billion at the end of last month, up US$20 million over a month earlier, according to tallies released yesterday by the central bank.
Central bank officials credited the small increase to an outflow of foreign remittances during the month that offset the interest generated from the reserves.
According to the Financial Supervisory Commission (FSC), Taiwan registered a net outflow of foreign remittances for the third consecutive month last month, with foreign investors remitting US$860 million in equity funds out of the country.
■ Foreign investment up
The nation's foreign investment this year is expected to hit a record high of over US$8 billion, US officials said yesterday.
"Talks with several potential foreign investors for major projects are underway. We are confident that Taiwan will have a good year in 2006 attracting high inward-bound investment," an official from the ministry's industrial development bureau said.
She declined to disclose further details on the forecast after foreign investment in the first half of the year leapt US$6.95 billion from a total of US$4.23 billion last year.
The economic ministry is scheduled to hold 15 investment forums at home and abroad later this year and invite foreign businesses to survey the Taiwan market with a focus on financial services, logistics, medical electronics and broadband sectors.
■ Powerchip buys more Macronix
Powerchip Semiconductor Corp (力晶半導體), the nation's largest memory-chip maker, said it has raised its stake in Macronix International Co (旺宏) to 4.2 percent, yesterday.
Powerchip bought 40.6 million Macronix shares for NT$413.6 million between Aug. 1 and Aug. 4, the company said in a statement to the Taiwan Stock Exchange.
■ NT dollar remains weak
The New Taiwan dollar remained weak against its US counterpart yesterday, dropping NT$0.004 to close at NT$32.869 on the Taipei foreign exchange market.
Turnover was US$514 million.
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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