Share prices continue to rise
The TAIEX closed up 1.46 percent yesterday, as investors kept buying market heavyweights amid regional market gains, according to dealers.
The index rose 108.52 points to 7,548.48 after moving between 7,351.18 and 7,548.48 on turnover of NT$114.85 billion (US$3. 56 billion) — the highest turnover since May 7.
All eight major sectors gained ground, with cement shares moving up the most at 3 percent. Plastics and chemicals gained 2.5 percent, while textile stocks rose 1.5 percent.
A total of 2,494 stocks closed up and 795 were down, with 322 remaining unchanged. Foreign institutional investors and Chinese qualified domestic institutional investors were net buyers of NT$5.3 billion-worth of shares.
Gratuity fees subject to taxes
Taipei National Tax Administration under the Ministry of Finance said yesterday that gratuity fees given by customers, service charges and corkage fees paid at restaurants are all subject to business taxes.
Businesses receiving these extra fees are legally required to issue a Uniform Invoice for them.
Those who fail to do so could face a fine of up to 10 times the fee they received, as well as paying back the evaded taxes.
If caught breaking the law more than three times within a year, businesses will be forced to close, the tax agency said.
Tax officials also called on the public to ask for a receipt for these fees when paying a bill.
Small firms edged out
Taiwan’s biggest companies that were the first to set up plants in China are expected to boost their market share and edge out smaller competitors as wage costs rise in the country, the nation’s second-best performing fund manager said.
China’s labor costs are expected to rise as cities, including Beijing, raised the minimum wage, while Taipei-based Foxconn Technology Group (富士康) is doubling salaries at some factories to 2,000 yuan a month after a spate of suicides.
Expenses may also climb as the country’s central bank increased the flexibility of its exchange rate last month after pegging the yuan to the US dollar since mid-2008.
“As the costs rise, companies will need to automate or move plants to cheaper countries,” Fu Hsu-cheng (傅旭正), who helps oversee the equivalent of US$310 million at Fubon Asset Management Co (富邦投信), said yesterday.
“These Taiwan companies have the capital, they can afford to do so, and smaller companies will be eliminated,” he said, declining to name specific firms.
Energy use continues to rise
Taiwan’s energy use rose for the ninth consecutive month in May on increased demand from factories as industrial output advanced to a record level.
Consumption of coal, petroleum, gas, thermal energy and electricity climbed 5.07 percent from a year earlier to the equivalent of 9.94 million kiloliters of oil, or about 2 million barrels a day, according to an e-mailed report from the Bureau of Energy yesterday.
Energy consumption by industrial users increased 12 percent in May from a year earlier and demand for transportation purposes fell 6.1 percent, according to the energy bureau.
Use of petroleum products climbed 1.1 percent to the equivalent of 4.54 million kiloliters of oil in May, according to the energy bureau.
NT dollar up against greenback
The New Taiwan dollar rose NT$0.02 against the US dollar yesterday, to close at NT$32.200. Turnover totaled US$588 million during the trading session.
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