Pharma shares soar on fears
Taiwan’s hygiene and medical companies soared, led by Universal Inc (恆大), on expectations that sales could improve after an outbreak of swine flu in Mexico and US.
Universal, which makes non-woven fabrics such as baby diapers and surgical gowns, gained 6.8 percent to NT$12.50, set for its highest in 10 months. Mao Bao Inc (毛寶), a maker of household cleaning products, rose 6.6 percent to NT$10.40, its highest since Aug. 25 last year. TTY Biopharm Co (台灣東洋藥品), a drugmaker, climbed 6.6 percent to NT$88.5, the highest since it went public in 2001.
“As the concerns increase, these companies stand to gain,” said Stanley Chou, a fund manager at Mega International Investment Service (兆豐國際投顧), a unit of Taiwan’s third-largest financial service company. “With other stocks falling, these shares look least vulnerable.”
MOF welcomes property tax bill
The Ministry of Finance (MOF) said in a statement yesterday afternoon it welcomed the advancement of a bill to lower the requirements for preferential property gains tax after the measure passed the legislature’s Finance Committee.
Under current rules, all property owners must either pay land value increment tax according to a progressive scheme or opt for a preferential rate of 10 percent, a privilege that can be used once in their lifetime.
The proposed revision seeks to extend the preference to home-owners who sell their property after residing at the same address for six years and have not used it for commercial gain.
The planned tax cut still needs second and third readings and is designed to help invigorate the property market.
ECCT’s Wittich to head for China
European Chamber of Commerce in Taipei (ECCT) chief executive officer Guy Wittich has been tapped to take up a new position as the executive director for China of the Netherlands Foreign Investment Agency (NFIA) under the Dutch Ministry of Economic Affairs.
Starting in July, Wittich “will be working out of the Consulate General of the [Kingdom of the] Netherlands in Shanghai and … in charge of attracting Chinese investments to the Netherlands,” while working with his staff located in Shanghai, Beijing, Guangzhou and Hong Kong, he told the Taipei Times in an e-mail yesterday.
After leading the chamber for almost eight years, Wittich said “it was time to do something different” and is scheduled to complete his work at the chamber in late June. To find a successor, the chamber’s board has established a search committee to initiate the process of selecting possible candidates, chamber chairman Philippe Pellegrin said in a letter to chamber members.
HK expects record visitor volume
A record 4.24 million people are expected to travel in and out of Hong Kong for the May Day holiday, immigration officials in the region of 7 million said yesterday.
The figure, which will see an average of 276,000 people a day crisscrossing the Lo Wu land border with China, would be 16 percent higher than for the same time last year.
The busiest days are expected to be Friday, when 173,000 people are expected to cross from China into Hong Kong, and May 3, when some 170,000 will cross in the opposite direction, a Hong Kong immigration department spokesman said.
May Day, or Labor Day, is a major holiday in the Chinese calendar and a popular time for people in mainland China to spend time with relatives or friends in Hong Kong.
Travel between China and Hong Kong has been made easier by the relaxing of cross-border travel restrictions, allowing millions more mainland Chinese visitors into the former British colony.
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