TAIEX closes down
The TAIEX closed down 0.04 percent yesterday, but traditional industry-related shares posted strong growth as investors expect increasing demand from China’s May Day holiday.
The weighted index closed 3.64 points lower, ending at 8,714.48 on a relatively low trading volume of NT$93.039 billion (US$3.2 billion).
Textiles rose 0.5 percent, while the plastics and chemicals sector added 0.3 percent and the financial sector gained 0.1 percent.
In contrast, construction shares posted the heaviest losses of the day, finishing 0.8 percent lower.
China Steel reports profit rise
China Steel Corp (中鋼), the nation’s biggest steelmaker, yesterday said pre-tax profits grew 19 percent quarter-on-quartet in the first three months, helped by a spike in asset gains.
Pre-tax profits expanded to NT$7.32 billion from NT$6.14 billion in the fourth quarter of last year, after booking asset gains of NT$2.04 billion, according to a company statement released yesterday.
In the fourth quarter, the -Kaohsiung-based steel mill only booked NT$837 million in asset gains.
On an annual basis, first--quarer net profits plunged 44 percent from NT$13.13 billion in the first quarter of last year.
Revenues shrank 8.45 percent to NT$56.51 billion in the last quarter from NT$61.72 billion in the final quarter of last year, according to the statement. Sales of its products also dropped to 2.29 million tonnes from 2.39 million tonnes three months ago.
Formosa to expand US plant
Petrochemical giant Formosa Plastics Corp (台塑) plans to invest US$2.1 billion to expand existing facilities in the US, local media reported yesterday.
The investment, which is awaiting final US government -approval, is aimed at using richer and cheaper natural gas resources in the US and could be completed by late 2014, the Chinese-language Economic Daily News reported.
The plan will see the annual ethylene capacity at Formosa Plastics’s unit in Point Comfort, Texas, increase 28 percent to 2.07 million tonnes, while its propylene capacity will rise 54 percent to 1.14 million tonnes, it said.
Ethylene and propylene are chemical materials widely used in industry, ranging from plastic bags to bottles, toys, cables and washing machine casings.
Glass investment approved
Taiwan Glass Industrial Corp’s (台灣玻璃) board approved plans to invest US$65 million in two units in China’s Jiangsu Province, the Taipei-based company said in a statement to the stock exchange yesterday.
Debt-to-GDP ratio announced
The central government’s debt-to-GDP ratio was 33.5 percent last year, the Ministry of Finance said in a statement on its Web site yesterday.
NT dollar continues to weaken
The New Taiwan dollar weakened for a second day as investors sought the safety of the greenback on speculation Greece may default on its debt.
The Bloomberg-JPMorgan Asia Dollar Index, which tracks the region’s 10-most-traded currencies, dropped after Greece said it had no plans for a restructuring, even as the cost of insuring its debt climbed to a record on Friday.
“The Europe debt crisis weighed on the Taiwan dollar,” said Henry Lin, a Taipei-based -foreign--exchange trader at Taiwan Shin Kong Commercial Bank (新光銀行). “The US dollar will probably stay strong for the rest of the week.”
The NT dollar declined 0.1 percent to close at NT$29.089 against its US counterpart, 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
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
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