TAIEX follows Street higher
The TAIEX closed up 0.12 percent yesterday after profit-taking eroded early gains triggered by a fresh two-year high on Wall Street overnight, dealers said.
The weighted index rose 10.58 points to 8,975.58, on turnover of NT$144.82 billion (US$4.96 billion).
The financial sector scored the highest gains, ending up 0.48 percent. Foodstuffs rose 0.46 percent, plastics and chemicals gained 0.38 percent, while cement shares closed up 0.09 percent.
“Investors had better remain alert over a possible pullback in the face of strong resistance,” MasterLink Securities (元富證券) analyst Benson Huang said.
World Bank optimistic on GDP
An official of the Council for Economic Planning and Development said yesterday that the World Bank’s forecast for the nation’s economic growth over the next two years shows optimism of the economic fundamentals.
The comments came after a global economic prospects report for this year released by the World Bank forecast that Taiwan’s GDP growth would be a moderate 5 percent this year from an estimated 10.5 percent last year, but would rise to 5.5 percent next year.
The World Bank also expects the global economy to expand by 3.3 percent this year, slowing from a estimated 3.9 percent last year, and to rise to 3.6 percent next year.
Workers clash at Foxconn
Workers at Foxconn Technology Group (富士康科技集團), a subsidiary of Hon Hai Precision Industry Co Ltd (鴻海集團), clashed with each other at its factory in Chengdu, China, on the evening of Jan. 6, Louis Woo (胡國輝), a spokesman for the Taipei-based electronics manufacturer, said in a phone interview yesterday.
Woo was unable to immediately provide further information.
UMC, TSMC buy equipment
United Microelectronics Corp (UMC, 聯電), the nation’s second-biggest contract chipmaker, bought NT$535 million of equipment from Tokyo Electron Ltd between Dec. 5 and yesterday, UMC said in a statement to the Taiwan Stock Exchange.
In a separate filing, Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電), the world’s largest contract chipmaker, said it had bought NT$2.01 billion of equipment from Applied Materials South East Asia Pacific Ltd and two other companies.
The company purchased NT$708 million of equipment from Ebara Corp, NT$760 million from Applied Materials South East Asia Pacific Ltd and NT$543 million from Chen Yuan International Co, TSMC said.
Central bank issues CDs
The central bank issued NT$58.1 billion in certificates of deposit (CDs) yesterday, more than the NT$38.7 billion that matured, the monetary authority said in a statement on its Web site.
The central bank sold 30-day CDs at 0.74 percent, 91-day CDs at 0.78 percent and 182-day CDs at 0.88 percent, according to the central bank’s statement.
NT dollars retreats from highs
The New Taiwan dollar retreated from a 13-year high on speculation the central bank intervened minutes before the close of trading yesterday to temper gains that may hurt exporters.
The currency earlier reached its strongest level since 1997 as optimism that Europe’s debt crisis will ease boosted appetite for riskier emerging-market assets.
Taiwan’s currency reached an intra-day high of NT$29.006 against the US dollar, its strongest level since October 1997, before ending little changed at NT$29.605 at the 4pm close, according to Taipei Forex Inc.
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
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