TAIEX advances 0.6 percent
Taiwan’s benchmark index closed up 0.58 percent yesterday on strengthening volume, which rose to its highest level in eight trading sessions, dealers said.
The TAIEX closed 49.74 points higher at 8,646.31, after moving between 8,605.83 and 8,671.59, on turnover of NT$112.15 billion (US$3.79 billion).
A total of 2,663 stocks closed up, 1,413 finished down and 531 remained unchanged.
FSC seeks Ruen Chen pledge
The Financial Supervisory Commission (FSC) said yesterday that Ruen Chen Investment Holding Co (潤成投資), the winning bidder for Nan Shan Life Insurance (南山人壽), should put all the insurer’s shares into trust for 10 years to show its long-term commitment.
The financial regulator said it would also ask major Ruen Chen shareholders to promise in black and white not to sell Nan Shan shares during the course of capital increase in the future.
The commission said it would set up a mechanism to make sure that Ruen Chen honor its pledges and meet other requirements before ruling on its acquisition application.
Cathay Beijing office approved
Cathay Financial Holdings Co (國泰金控) said yesterday its non-life insurance arm had won regulatory approval from China on Monday to establish a branch office in Beijing.
The branch will become the sixth on the provincial level, the nation’s largest financial service provider said in a statement.
Taiwan Co-op to pay dividends
Taiwan Cooperative Bank (合作金庫銀行) plans to pay a cash dividend of NT$0.60 per share for last year’s earnings, along with a stock dividend of 2 percent, the lender said in a statement to the stock exchange yesterday.
The bank will pay another stock dividend of 4 percent from cash reserves, according to the statement.
Chinatrust rating unchanged
Moody’s Investors Service said yesterday that Chinatrust Financial Holding Co’s (中信金控) long-term foreign currency A3 issuer rating would not be affected by its decision to acquire Metlife Taiwan Insurance Co (大都會人壽).
Moody’s vice president Christine Kuo (郭書岑) said Chinatrust Financial’s rating was unaffected mainly because the US$180 million transaction comprises only 3.3 percent of the company’s equity.
The double leverage is also expected to be maintained at a healthy level after the merger, she said.
“However, negative pressure on its rating could develop if the assets or capital of its insurance business grew to comprise 10 percent of the group’s amount or if its double leverage increased to over 120 percent,” Kuo said in a statement.
Alstom, Ever Power ink deal
Alstom SA said it has signed an extension of an operation and maintenance contract worth just under 300 million euros (US$423 million) for a gas combined cycle power plant operated by Ever Power IPP Ltd (長生電力) in Taiwan.
The French company said in a statement yesterday the contract to serve Ever Power’s Hai-Fu (海湖) power plant is effective over the next 15 years.
Pegatron to expand investment
Pegatron Corp (和碩), the manufacturing unit spun off from Asustek Computer Inc (華碩電腦), plans to invest an additional US$35 million in an electrical plating firm in China’s Suzhou City through its subsidiaries, the Taipei-based company said in an exchange filing yesterday.
NT dollar retreats NT$0.033
The New Taiwan dollar fell NT$0.033 against the US dollar to close at NT$29.510 on turnover of US$836 million yesterday.
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
Taiwan Transport and Storage Corp (TTS, 台灣通運倉儲) yesterday unveiled its first electric tractor unit — manufactured by Volvo Trucks — in a ceremony in Taipei, and said the unit would soon be used to transport cement produced by Taiwan Cement Corp (TCC, 台灣水泥). Both TTS and TCC belong to TCC International Holdings Ltd (台泥國際集團). With the electric tractor unit, the Taipei-based cement firm would become the first in Taiwan to use electric vehicles to transport construction materials. TTS chairman Koo Kung-yi (辜公怡), Volvo Trucks vice president of sales and marketing Johan Selven, TCC president Roman Cheng (程耀輝) and Taikoo Motors Group