Shares close flat
Share prices closed little changed yesterday as the market recouped early losses driven by an overnight tumble on Wall Street, dealers said. Fears of more volatility because of the US credit crisis were still prominent, they said.
The TAIEX closed up 0.15 points at yesterday's high of 8,680.86 and off a low 8,372.05, on turnover of NT$139.99 billion (US$4.32 billion).
"The dramatic turnaround toward the close reflects expectations that the market might have hit a near-term bottom, for now at least," said Michael Hsu, assistant vice president at Taiwan Life Asset Management (台灣人壽資產管裡).
Bargain-hunting activity may pick up in the coming days and support a technical rebound, Hsu said.
However, volatility was set to remain a feature on both Wall Street and the local bourse for a while, he said, noting continued concerns over global financial sector losses due to bad US housing loans.
Decliners led risers 1,380 to 708, with 332 stocks unchanged.
Current account narrows
The current account narrowed in the third quarter to NT$6.02 billion from NT$6.2 billion (US$186 million) a year earlier, the central bank said yesterday in Taipei.
The current account surplus in the second quarter was revised to NT$5.27 billion, the report showed.
The goods surplus climbed to NT$7.4 billion from NT$6.66 billion a year earlier. The surplus on the income account, which includes dividend payments, narrowed to NT$1.34 billion from NT$1.45 billion. The deficit on the services account, which includes travel spending, widened to NT$1.74 billion from NT$1.07 billion.
The financial account, which measures investment flows, had a deficit of NT$13.8 billion, rising from a NT$4.09 billion shortfall a year earlier.
Direct investment recorded a net outflow of NT$1.46 billion, more than the NT$129 million a year earlier. Portfolio investment had a net outflow of NT$14 billion, more than the NT$7.29 billion a year ago.
Test Rite sells building
Test Rite International Co (特力集團) said yesterday that it has sold its six-floor B&Q building in Neihu to Citi Property Investors (CPI) Asia Pacific for NT$5.5 billion (US$170 million), local media reported.
CPT, however, refused to comment on the deal.
After the building's liquidation, Test Rite will continue to run the mall, where branches of Hola, Carrefour and several other supermarkets are located, by paying an estimated NT$250 million in annual rentals to CPI, which is guaranteed a 5 percent return rate.
NT dollar gains
The New Taiwan dollar gained ground against the US dollar yesterday, rising NT$0.001 to close at NT$32.350. A total of US$908 million changed hands during the day's trading on the Taipei Forex.
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