TAIEX ends little changed
The TAIEX closed little changed yesterday after rotational buying in old economy stocks offset pressure in large-cap electronics shares, dealers said.
The bellwether tech sector extended losses from the previous session amid lingering concerns over global demand in the third quarter, they said.
The benchmark index fell 2.95 points, or 0.03 percent, to 8,488.06, after moving between 8,452.86 and 8,539.18, on turnover of NT$114.94 million (US$3.98 billion).
The machinery and electronics sector suffered the heaviest losses, finishing down 0.8 percent. Financials fell 0.1 percent, while the paper and pulp sector closed unchanged. Plastics and chemicals bucked the trend by rising 1.7 percent.
Average stock returns negative
Shares on the local market had an average rate of return of minus-3.57 percent in the first half of this year, the Taiwan Stock Exchange Corp reported on Monday.
Performance by stock showed that Ching Feng Home Fashions Co (慶豐富實業) had the poorest rate of return at minus-50.3 percent. It was affected in part by the suspension of margin trading for its stock late last month.
Senao International Co (神腦國際), which has forged partnerships with local retailers to extend its market share in China, had the best rate of return at 118.64 percent, backed by investment trust companies’ buying.
HTC picks marketing chief
HTC Corp (宏達電), the world’s fifth-largest smartphone maker, yesterday announced the promotion of Jason Mackenzie to the newly created position of global sales and marketing president, with immediate effect.
Mackenzie joined HTC in 2005. In 2007, he was promoted to president managing the firm’s operations in North America and Latin America, HTC said in a statement.
Before joining HTC, he held sales and marketing positions in companies like Denso Wireless and was a vice president at Siemens Communications.
MediaTek plans buyback
MediaTek Inc (聯發科), the nation’s biggest handset chip designer, yesterday said the board had approved a plan to repurchase 80 million common shares, or 0.73 percent of its total capital shares, from the stock market to safeguard shareholders’ interests.
This is the first share buyback plan in seven years. MediaTek plans to spend NT$2.97 billion on the share buyback program and will cancel the shares thereafter.
MediaTek plans to repurchase shares over the next two months ending on Sept. 13 at NT$247 to NT$371 per share.
As of yesterday, MediaTek shares have plunged more than 40 percent to NT$247 since the beginning of this year.
85°C expanding in US
Gourmet Master Co (美食達人), operator of the popular 85°C bakery and coffee chain, said yesterday it planned to open its second coffee store in California next month.
Public relations and marketing director Kathy Chung (鐘靜如) said Gourmet Master was talking to potential partners to develop the US market. She declined to give details.
Gourmet Master operates 325 85°C coffee shops in Taiwan, more than 200 in China, one in the US and four in Australia. The company last week announced that it had teamed up with Cafe de Coral Holdings Ltd to open 25 coffee shops in Hong Kong in three years.
NT dollar advances
The New Taiwan dollar gained ground against its US counterpart yesterday, rising NT$0.098 to close at NT$28.90 on turnover of US$798 million.
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