TAIEX inches up
Taiwan’s benchmark index closed 0.12 percent higher yesterday as profit-taking emerged to erode early gains after the index breached technical resistance at around 8,200 points, dealers said.
The TAIEX rose 9.44 points to close at 8,196.40, after moving between 8,177.40 and 8,251.42, on turnover of NT$129.68 billion (US$4.10 billion).
The market opened up 0.77 percent as investors took hints from a Wall Street surge overnight, but once the index hit the day’s high, selling took over, focusing on old economy stocks that had recently staged significant gains, dealers said.
A total of 2,031 stocks closed down and 1,775 finished up, with 399 remaining unchanged.
Ruentex, Permira join for bid
Ruentex Industries Ltd (潤泰) will team up with Permira Advisers LLP to make a second-round bid within the next two days for MBK Partners Ltd’s stake in China Network Systems Co (CNS, 中嘉網路), Tseng Ta-mon (曾達夢), a manager at Ruentex’s investment department said by telephone yesterday.
Ruentex will hold 51 percent in a venture to be incorporated in Taiwan for the acquisition and Permira will have the remaining 49 percent stake, Tseng said.
EU won’t appeal WTO ruling
The EU won’t appeal a WTO ruling that it broke trade laws by imposing import duties on US$11 billion in high-tech electronic goods such as computer monitors and cable set-top boxes.
“After careful consideration, the EU has decided not to appeal the panel report in the ITA [Information Technology Agreement] dispute,” John Clancy, a spokesman for the European Commission, the EU’s trade authority in Brussels, said by telephone.
Yesterday was the deadline for the EU to appeal the ruling, which the commission said last month may cost the bloc as much as 300 million euros (US$394 million) in revenue a year.
The WTO on Aug. 16 backed all claims in a complaint by the US, Japan and Taiwan saying the EU was violating the ITA by imposing tariffs as high as 14 percent on imports of flat-panel computer monitors, certain cable and satellite set-top boxes and multifunction printers.
Deutsche Borse mulls office
Deutsche Borse Group said it is studying the feasibility of setting up an office in Taiwan after it admitted local brokers to its unit Eurex, Europe’s largest derivatives exchange.
“We are discussing this subject with the Securities and Futures Bureau of Taiwan’s Financial Supervisory Commission, and haven’t finalized any decision,” Michael Hsih (姒元忠), senior vice president of the group’s Business Development Asia & Middle East, said in Taipei yesterday.
IMAX, CJ CGV to build theaters
IMAX Corp said it has teamed up with a South Korean cinema chain to open 15 big-screen theatres in China, marking the Canadian company’s single biggest deal in Asia.
IMAX signed an agreement with a subsidiary of South Korea’s CJ CGV Co, which already operates five IMAX theaters in South Korea, to install the digital theater systems in China, the Canadian firm said on its Web site on Monday.
CJ CGV will install two IMAX theaters next year, with the rest to be completed by 2015, the statement said, without identifying the locations for the new cinemas.
NT dollar closes lower
The New Taiwan dollar lost against the US dollar yesterday, down NT$0.013 to close at NT$31.765.
Turnover totaled US$788 million during the trading session.
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