Shares close flat
Shares closed flat yesterday as profit-taking eroded early gains driven by an overnight rally on Wall Street, dealers said.
Investors opted to wait for more convincing leads to push stocks higher despite expectations of government support in the run-up to next year's legislative and presidential elections, they said.
The TAIEX closed up 7.42 points or 0.08 percent at 9,300.22. Turnover was NT$155.09 billion (US$4.79 billion).
Decliners led risers 1,208 to 847, with 312 stocks unchanged.
"A generally still intact upward trend was marred by investor reluctance to push prices too hastily and drastically," Taiwan Life Asset Management (台灣人壽資產管裡) assistant vice president Michael Hsu said.
The market may need more time to consolidate before trying to fully recoup losses after dropping more than 300 points from a high of nearly 9,600 points on the index last Friday, he said.
Taiwan ranks 21st in logistics
The nation ranks 21st in the world in terms of logistics, according to a report released on Monday by the World Bank Group.
Among Asia's four little dragons, Taiwan's ranking lags behind Singapore's first-place showing and Hong Kong's eighth but is ahead of South Korea's 25th.
The G7 countries were all top performers, with Germany ranking third, Japan sixth, the Britain ninth, Canada 10th, the US 14th, France 18th and Italy 22nd.
Of the seven categories in the logistics index, Taiwan ranked 25th in terms of the efficiency and effectiveness of its customs clearance process.
The nation ranked 21st in terms of IT infrastructure, 16th in terms of ease and affordability of arranging shipments, 23rd in terms of competence in the local logistics industry, 24th in ability to track and trace shipments, 43rd in domestic logistics costs and 15th in timeliness of shipments in reaching their destinations.
Defects annoy Web shoppers
Defective products are the most common problem encountered by shoppers who make purchases online, a survey found.
The survey, released yesterday by the Net Consumers Association and the Consumers Foundation, said that online shoppers also complained that they were not allowed to return purchases, that descriptions of products were misleading or incorrect, or that they were victims of online fraud, in that order.
The Net Consumers Association noted that it had received more than 1,000 complaints this year.
Although transactions for software downloads and books are quick, both buyers and sellers complained that the seven-day trial period under the Consumers Protection Law (消費者保護法) was too long, which could induce more disputes.
Metal plant opens in Kaohsiung
The US-based World Resources Co, which specializes in metal recycling, has opened a branch at the Kanshan Benchou Industrial Park in Kaohsiung County, a Ministry of Economic Affairs official said yesterday.
The ministry said that the company procures selected recyclable and metal-bearing industrial residue as raw material in the production of metal concentrates that are sold to metal producers internationally.
The Taiwan branch will procure metal-bearing industrial sludge from local electronic plants, electroplating plants and waste water plants, and make ingots for use by metal producers in the US.
The officials said metal recycling has become an important alternative to mining for ever-scarcer mineral resources.
ISSUES: Gogoro has been struggling with ballooning losses and was recently embroiled in alleged subsidy fraud, using Chinese-made components instead of locally made parts Gogoro Inc (睿能創意), the nation’s biggest electric scooter maker, yesterday said that its chairman and CEO Horace Luke (陸學森) has resigned amid chronic losses and probes into the company’s alleged involvement in subsidy fraud. The board of directors nominated Reuntex Group (潤泰集團) general counsel Tamon Tseng (曾夢達) as the company’s new chairman, Gogoro said in a statement. Ruentex is Gogoro’s biggest stakeholder. Gogoro Taiwan general manager Henry Chiang (姜家煒) is to serve as acting CEO during the interim period, the statement said. Luke’s departure came as a bombshell yesterday. As a company founder, he has played a key role in pushing for the
China has claimed a breakthrough in developing homegrown chipmaking equipment, an important step in overcoming US sanctions designed to thwart Beijing’s semiconductor goals. State-linked organizations are advised to use a new laser-based immersion lithography machine with a resolution of 65 nanometers or better, the Chinese Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (MIIT) said in an announcement this month. Although the note does not specify the supplier, the spec marks a significant step up from the previous most advanced indigenous equipment — developed by Shanghai Micro Electronics Equipment Group Co (SMEE, 上海微電子) — which stood at about 90 nanometers. MIIT’s claimed advances last
CROSS-STRAIT TENSIONS: The US company could switch orders from TSMC to alternative suppliers, but that would lower chip quality, CEO Jensen Huang said Nvidia Corp CEO Jensen Huang (黃仁勳), whose products have become the hottest commodity in the technology world, on Wednesday said that the scramble for a limited amount of supply has frustrated some customers and raised tensions. “The demand on it is so great, and everyone wants to be first and everyone wants to be most,” he told the audience at a Goldman Sachs Group Inc technology conference in San Francisco. “We probably have more emotional customers today. Deservedly so. It’s tense. We’re trying to do the best we can.” Huang’s company is experiencing strong demand for its latest generation of chips, called
GLOBAL ECONOMY: Policymakers have a choice of a small 25 basis-point cut or a bold cut of 50 basis points, which would help the labor market, but might reignite inflation The US Federal Reserve is gearing up to announce its first interest rate cut in more than four years on Wednesday, with policymakers expected to debate how big a move to make less than two months before the US presidential election. Senior officials at the US central bank including Fed Chairman Jerome Powell have in recent weeks indicated that a rate cut is coming this month, as inflation eases toward the bank’s long-term target of two percent, and the labor market continues to cool. The Fed, which has a dual mandate from the US Congress to act independently to ensure