TAIEX slips 0.24%
The TAIEX closed down 0.24 percent yesterday on a mild correction from the previous session, but ample funds helped to keep the market above the 8,800 point mark, dealers said.
The weighted index fell 21.55 points to 8,870.76 on turnover of NT$101.34 billion (US$3.42 billion).
“With many foreign institutional investors remaining away from the trading floor ahead of the New Year holiday, the local bourse appeared quiet, moving in a narrow range,” Horizon Securities (宏遠證券) analyst Benson Huang said.
Huang said a lackluster Wall Street overnight failed to provide any meaningful indication to the local market.
HTC appoints new COO
HTC Corp (宏達電), the world’s No. 5 smartphone brand, yesterday said it has appointed Matthew Costello as new chief operating officer.
The latest personnel shuffle came after HTC appointed Winston Yung (容覺生) last week as new chief executive, replacing H.M Cheng (鄭慧明).
Costello will be based in Taiwan and will oversee all operations from manufacturing, supply chain and sourcing to customer services and technology infrastructure. He will report to Fred Liu (劉慶東), who has been promoted to president of engineering, operations and sales.
President Chain launches Wi-Fi
President Chain Store Corp (統一超商), operator of 7-11 convenience stores, launched its own Wi-Fi service, yesterday, making it the nation’s first retailer offering its own wireless Internet access service.
President Chain Store said that it expected to have 1 million subscribers for the new Wi-Fi service within an unspecified period of time.
Yieh invests in Guangzhou plant
Yieh United Steel Corp’s (燁聯) board approved investing an additional US$116.7 million in a -stainless steel unit in Guangzhou (聯眾(廣州)不銹鋼) in southern China, the Kaohsiung-based company said in a statement to the stock exchange yesterday.
The board also approved plans for Yieh United Steel and five other units to invest a combined US$95 million in a nickel plant, the company said in a separate statement.
Giantplus to sell bonds
Giantplus Technology Co’s (凌巨) board approved a plan to sell up to NT$1 billion in five-year unsecured domestic convertible bonds at zero coupon, the company said in a statement to the local stock exchange yesterday.
The proceeds will be used to repay bank loans, the Miaoli county-based maker of flat panel modules said.
Fubon buys non-performing loans
Fubon Financial Holding Co (富邦金控) said its Fubon AMC Ltd (富邦資產管理) unit bought NT$6.3 billion in non-performing loans from The Chinese Bank (中華商銀), Taitung Business Bank (台東區中小企銀) and BOWA Bank (寶華商銀) from the Central Deposit Insurance Co (中央存保), it said in a statement to the Taiwan stock exchange yesterday.
CPC to boost No. 4 utilization
CPC Corp, Taiwan (CPC, 台灣中油), Taiwan’s state-run oil company, plans to boost the utilization rate at its No. 4 naphtha cracker to 90 percent today.
The company resumed production at the plant on Monday after maintenance, vice president Paul Chen (陳綠蔚) said by telephone. The No. 4 plant was closed on Nov. 3 for scheduled repairs, he said.
CPC has also been running its No. 3 and No. 5 naphtha crackers at 90 percent of capacity, according to Chen.
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