TAIEX ends higher
Shares closed 0.3 percent higher yesterday, as technical resistance put a lid on early gains driven by the strong showing of the New Taiwan dollar, dealers said.
The strength in the local currency during the morning session sparked hopes for capital inflows, they added.
The TAIEX closed up 24.67 points at 8,181.49, on turnover of NT$92.86 billion (US$2.81 billion).
Decliners outnumbered advancers 626 to 465, with 239 stocks unchanged.
On the local foreign exchange market, the NT dollar continued gaining ground against the US dollar, advancing to a two-month high.
The NT dollar rose NT$0.129 to close at NT$33.019, after the central bank expressed concern over its recent weakness.
Turnover was US$1.478 billion on the Taipei Forex Inc.
Chinatrust to offer travel service
Chinatrust Commercial Bank (中國信託商銀), the nation's largest credit card issuer, yesterday announced plans to launch a travel Web site, Travel Family (www.travelfamily.com.tw), which is designed exclusively for its 5.7 million cardholders.
Working in cooperation with Cola Tours (可樂旅遊) and another 17 travel agencies, the bank said that the service, which would be launched on Friday, would be the first to offer travelers the option of paying only after they have boarded the plane to safeguard consumers' interests.
Travelers will have to swipe their credit cards first, but travel agencies will not be able to collect payments from the bank until the tour group has set off, said Michael Chang (張智銓), director of the bank's credit card division.
This is to avoid incidents like those seen in early February, when three local travel agencies unexpectedly closed down, embezzling tens of millions of NT dollars from more than 1,660 customers.
Chinatrust Commercial also plans to offer incentives including installment payments and bonus-point redemption to boost cardholder loyalty, expand its customer base and stimulate card consumption, the firm said.
SinoPac, AIG team up
SinoPac Holdings Co (永豐金控), the nation's ninth-biggest financial group, yesterday said it has teamed up with American International Group (AIG) to tap into the local pension management market.
The two parties inked a pact to officially inaugurate the strategic alliance following a year-long partnership talks, SinoPac said in a statement released yesterday.
The company estimated that pension reserves 1.3 times the amount of the nation's GDP would be required to cover 50 percent of income after retirement. Compared with current reserves of less than 10 percent of GDP, that indicates huge room for growth in the industry, it said.
The two parties will cooperate to develop products and start to launch and market innovative pension management packages in the second half of the year through Bank SinoPac's (永豐銀行) 129 branches nationwide, the company said.
THSRC adding more trains
Taiwan High Speed Rail Corp (THSRC, 台灣高鐵) officials announced yesterday the company will increase the number of north and south-bound trains from 25 to 31 daily beginning on Friday.
It will mark the second time that THSRC will be adding more trains to boost its passenger service. On March 31, it increased the number of trains going in each direction from 19 to 25 per day.
The officials said that the departure and arrival times in the train schedule will be changed on Friday. Passengers can access the new schedule on THSRC's Web site at www.thsrc.com.tw/tw/ticketing/timetable.asp.
KEEPING UP: The acquisition of a cleanroom in Taiwan would enable Micron to increase production in a market where demand continues to outpace supply, a Micron official said Micron Technology Inc has signed a letter of intent to buy a fabrication site in Taiwan from Powerchip Semiconductor Manufacturing Corp (力積電) for US$1.8 billion to expand its production of memory chips. Micron would take control of the P5 site in Miaoli County’s Tongluo Township (銅鑼) and plans to ramp up DRAM production in phases after the transaction closes in the second quarter, the company said in a statement on Saturday. The acquisition includes an existing 12 inch fab cleanroom of 27,871m2 and would further position Micron to address growing global demand for memory solutions, the company said. Micron expects the transaction to
Vincent Wei led fellow Singaporean farmers around an empty Malaysian plot, laying out plans for a greenhouse and rows of leafy vegetables. What he pitched was not just space for crops, but a lifeline for growers struggling to make ends meet in a city-state with high prices and little vacant land. The future agriculture hub is part of a joint special economic zone launched last year by the two neighbors, expected to cost US$123 million and produce 10,000 tonnes of fresh produce annually. It is attracting Singaporean farmers with promises of cheaper land, labor and energy just over the border.
US actor Matthew McConaughey has filed recordings of his image and voice with US patent authorities to protect them from unauthorized usage by artificial intelligence (AI) platforms, a representative said earlier this week. Several video clips and audio recordings were registered by the commercial arm of the Just Keep Livin’ Foundation, a non-profit created by the Oscar-winning actor and his wife, Camila, according to the US Patent and Trademark Office database. Many artists are increasingly concerned about the uncontrolled use of their image via generative AI since the rollout of ChatGPT and other AI-powered tools. Several US states have adopted
A proposed billionaires’ tax in California has ignited a political uproar in Silicon Valley, with tech titans threatening to leave the state while California Governor Gavin Newsom of the Democratic Party maneuvers to defeat a levy that he fears would lead to an exodus of wealth. A technology mecca, California has more billionaires than any other US state — a few hundred, by some estimates. About half its personal income tax revenue, a financial backbone in the nearly US$350 billion budget, comes from the top 1 percent of earners. A large healthcare union is attempting to place a proposal before
RSS