TAIEX gains 1.14 percent
Share prices closed higher yesterday, with the TAIEX index moving up 90.11 points, or 1.14 percent, to close at 7,990.53.
The local bourse opened at 7,949.96 and fluctuated between a low of 7,947.90 and a high of 7,998.76 during the day’s trading. Market turnover totaled NT$117.94 billion (US$3.76 billion). Gainers outnumbered losers 2,409 to 806, with 250 remaining unchanged.
Foreign investors and Chinese qualified domestic institutional investors were net buyers of NT$6.49 billion in shares.
Ma invites infrastructure bids
President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) yesterday invited joint bids by foreign and local construction companies for major infrastructure projects, saying it would be a win-win situation for them.
Ma made the remark while addressing the opening of the 38th Conference of the International Federation of Asia and Western Pacific Contractors’ Association (IFAWPCA).
The three-day conference has brought together senior executives of major contractors’ associations in 16 Asia-Pacific countries to discuss feasible strategies for sustainable development in the 21st century.
Taiwan last hosted an IFAWPCA annual conference 22 years ago.
Fund has exit strategy
The National Stabilization Fund (國安基金) aims to leave the stock market as soon as next month, Unique Broadcasting Inc reported, citing an interview with Vice Premier Eric Chu (朱立倫). The fund has sold two-thirds of its shares, Chu said in the television interview on Tuesday.
Chrysler achieves Q1 profit
Chrysler yesterday posted a post-bankruptcy loss for last year of US$3.8 billion, but said it had exceeded financial targets and achieved an operating profit in the first quarter of this year.
In its first post-bankruptcy results, the No. 3 US automaker reported modified earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization of US$538 million for last year and ended the year with US$5.9 billion in cash.
Chrysler posted a first-quarter operating profit of US$143 million and its net loss narrowed to US$197 million from US$2.5 billion a year earlier.
Morgan Stanley beats forecasts
Morgan Stanley, in its first profit report under chief executive officer James Gorman, posted earnings that beat analysts’ estimates as fixed-income trading revenue more than doubled from a year earlier.
First-quarter net income was US$1.78 billion, or US$0.99 a share, compared with a loss of US$177 million, or US$0.57, in the first quarter of last year, the New York-based company said yesterday in a statement. Earnings from continuing operations, including a US$0.21 tax benefit, were US$1.03 a share, compared with the US$0.57 average estimate of 24 analysts surveyed by Bloomberg.
McDonald’s Q1 profit up 11%
McDonald’s Corp, the world’s largest restaurant company, said first-quarter profit rose 11 percent as comparable-store sales advanced in the US and Europe.
Net income climbed to US$1.09 billion, or US$1 a share, from US$979.5 million, or US$0.87, a year earlier, the company said yesterday in a statement.
France, Russia and the UK drove sales in Europe amid restaurant renovations and themed food events, McDonald’s said.
NT dollar edges higher
The New Taiwan dollar gained ground against the US dollar on the Taipei Foreign Exchange yesterday, rising NT$0.059 to close at NT$31.388. Turnover was US$908 million.
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