Shares close up 1.93 percent
Share prices closed up 1.93 percent yesterday as investors bet on the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) winning the presidential election and improving economic ties with China, dealers said.
The weighted index closed up 158.27 points at 8,337.62, off a low of 8,124.67 and just off a high of 8,343.38, on turnover of 145.70 billion NT dollars (US$4.73 billion).
Risers led decliners 1,442 to 605, with 308 stocks unchanged.
A total of 22 stocks closed limit-up and 12 were limit-down.
Hua Nan to hire 420 employees
Hua Nan Financial Holdings Co (華南金控), Taiwan's fifth-largest financial services company by assets, said it plans to hire 420 people for its eight units in the second quarter to become more competitive.
Hua Nan will hire these people in the field of banking, securities, insurance and asset management, the Taipei-based company said in an e-mailed statement.
Citigroup Inc, UBS AG, Merrill Lynch & Co and other foreign banks have announced plans to hire more workers as they compete to win customers in Taiwan.
Yuanta bank replaces president
Yuanta Financial Holdings Co (元大金控) said its board yesterday agreed to appoint Wang Rong-jou (王榮周), an independent director of the board, as the new vice chairman and president of its banking arm, replacing Ho Chang-ming (何昌明) in the latter role.
Wang, 62, has 30 years of experience in the financial sector. He will assume the post at Yuanta Commercial Bank (元大商業銀行) immediately, Yuanta Financial said in a statement yesterday. Ho will continue serving as a vice chairman at Yuanta Financial, the statement said.
Before sitting on Yuanta Financial's board, Wang served as chairman of Taiwan Asset Management Co (台灣金聯資產管理) from 2004 to last year. Prior to that, he served as chairman of Taiwan Business Bank (台灣企銀) and chairman of the Central Trust of China (中央信託局) and was vice minister of finance.
Toyota to sell Prius in S Korea
Toyota Motor Corp said yesterday it would start selling the hybrid Prius and two other models in South Korea next year as it expands its offerings in the country beyond the luxury Lexus brand.
Toyota said it would begin selling the Prius sedan in gasoline and hybrid versions and the RAV4, a compact sport utility vehicle, during the second half of next year through a dealer network.
The world's biggest automaker by production has set modest sales goals. It is initially targeting a total of 500 vehicles a month and plans to quickly double sales to 1,000 vehicles a month.
Russian nuclear firm inks deal
Russian nuclear energy giant Atomenergoprom and Japanese industrial corporation Toshiba signed a preliminary cooperation agreement yesterday, Russia's nuclear ministry said in a statement.
"Today's event symbolizes the start of large-scale cooperation between two leading companies ... in the field of the peaceful use of nuclear energy," Sergei Kiriyenko, head of Russia's nuclear agency, was quoted as saying.
"This cooperation will be beneficial not only to the employees of our companies, but also to users of products and services related to nuclear cycle throughout the world," Kiriyenko said.
The framework agreement will look at potential cooperation between the two firms.
NT dollar gains ground
The NT dollar continued gaining ground against its US counterpart yesterday, edging up NT$0.028 to close at NT$30.692 on the Taipei Foreign Exchange.
A total of US$1.486 billion changed hands during the day's trading.
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
Taiwan Transport and Storage Corp (TTS, 台灣通運倉儲) yesterday unveiled its first electric tractor unit — manufactured by Volvo Trucks — in a ceremony in Taipei, and said the unit would soon be used to transport cement produced by Taiwan Cement Corp (TCC, 台灣水泥). Both TTS and TCC belong to TCC International Holdings Ltd (台泥國際集團). With the electric tractor unit, the Taipei-based cement firm would become the first in Taiwan to use electric vehicles to transport construction materials. TTS chairman Koo Kung-yi (辜公怡), Volvo Trucks vice president of sales and marketing Johan Selven, TCC president Roman Cheng (程耀輝) and Taikoo Motors Group
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