TAIEX down 0.51 percent
Taiwanese shares fell yesterday, with the TAIEX moving down 38.78 points, or 0.51 percent, to close at 7,560.03.
The local bourse opened at 7,639.72 points and fluctuated between 7,656.95 and 7,530.41.
A total of 3.98 billion shares changed hands on market turnover of NT$119.18 billion (US$3.72 billion). Foreign institutional investors and China qualified domestic institutional investors were top sellers of NT$7.42 billion in shares.
Five of the eight major stock categories lost ground, with paper and pulp stocks shedding the most at 2.1 percent. Losers outnumbered gainers 2,166 to 994, with 236 stocks remaining unchanged.
Nanya upgraded to ‘stable’
Taiwan Ratings Corp (中華信評), a local rating arm of Standard and Poor’s, yesterday upgraded its outlook on the nation’s top computer memory chipmaker Nanya Technology Corp (南亞科技) to “stable” from “negative” amid improved profitability and a stabilizing memory chip industry.
For similar reasons, Taiwan Ratings also raised its outlook on Inotera Memories Inc (華亞科技), Nanya Technology’s memory venture with US memory company Micron Technology Inc.
The revision reflected the expectation that the memory chipmakers’ constant improvement in cost efficiency via technological upgrade would help them continue benefiting from the recovering PC memory industry and enhance their ability to generate adequate cash flow in the next three or four quarters, after swinging back to profits last quarter, Taiwan Ratings said in the report yesterday.
Macronix, IBM extend tie-up
Macronix International Co (旺宏電子), the Taiwanese memory semiconductor maker, extended a three-year agreement with IBM Corp to develop chips used to store data in consumer electronics devices.
The agreement became effective on Saturday and will end on Jan. 21, 2013, Hsinchu-based Macronix said in a filing to the Taiwan Stock Exchange yesterday that did not disclose financial terms.
STMicroelectronics expects drop
STMicroelectronics NV, Europe’s largest chipmaker, said sales through March would likely fall from the fourth quarter, when its loss narrowed on higher demand for semiconductors.
The Geneva-based company said revenue this quarter will drop by between 7 percent and 13 percent from the previous period. The fourth-quarter net loss shrank to US$70 million from US$366 million a year earlier, the company said on Tuesday night. Net revenue rose 13.6 percent to US$2.58 billion.
On Monday, Texas Instruments, the second-largest US chipmaker, forecast profit and sales that beat analysts’ estimates, fueled by demand for consumer electronics and industrial equipment.
NT dollar falls
The New Taiwan dollar fell for a second day as concern China will step up efforts to cool bank lending and economic growth prompted investors to trim holdings of local assets.
The NT dollar declined 0.1 percent to NT$32.08 against the US dollar at 4pm, Taipei Forex Inc said.
The central bank yesterday reiterated that inflows of funds must be used for their reported purposes and not for speculation in the local currency.
In an e-mailed statement, the central bank also denied that its review of the foreign exchange rules with banks caused the recent decline in Taiwanese stocks.
“The stock market isn’t doing too good,” said Yang Kung-yi (楊恭逸), a currency trader at Shanghai Commercial & Savings Bank (上海商業儲蓄銀行). “It’s a confidence issue. The tighter monetary policy in China might hurt stock market growth.”
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