TAIEX closes down
Share prices pulled back yesterday in thin trade as foreign institutional investors remained off the trading floor ahead of the New Year holiday, dealers said.
While the market encountered strong resistance ahead of 7,100 points after a recent technical rebound, the NT$500 billion (US$16.5 billion) National Stabilization Fund was believed to have been used to buy stocks during the session in a bid to maintain the index above the 7,000 point mark, the dealers said.
The TAIEX closed down 28.36 points, or 0.40 percent, at 7,056.67, after moving between 7,036.92 and 7,093.47, on turnover of NT$56.11 billion.
Cathay Life to buy Taishin stake
Cathay Financial Holding Co (國泰金控) said on Tuesday its life insurance unit had agreed to buy a 3.45 percent stake in Taishin Financial Holding Co (台新金控) from private-equity fund TPG Newbridge Capital for NT$4.74 billion, a filing to the Taiwan Stock Exchange showed.
Cathay Life Insurance Co (國泰人壽), the nation’s largest insurance company by market share, would purchase 258.98 million Taishin convertible preferred shares from TPG Newbridge at NT$18.30 each, which was about 74 percent more than Taishin Financial’s closing price of NT$10.5 on Tuesday.
The deal is expected to be closed by the end of February, the filing said.
Including the share sales to Cathay Life, TPG Newbridge has sold shares in Taishin Financial worth NT$11.36 billion to various investors, cutting its stake in Taishin to 6.55 percent from 14.82 percent, Dow Jones Newswires reported yesterday, citing Taishin sources.
Delta, Hsinchu going ‘green’
Delta Electronics Inc (台達電) signed a memorandum of understanding yesterday with the Hsinchu County Government to collaborate on building an international “green” energy industrial park with a budget of NT$10 billion.
Delta said it plans to create new business opportunities for the industry by integrating several energy-saving solutions such as electric vehicles, sustainable buildings, LED lighting and solar energy in the park.
The project has been divided into two installments, with construction of the first part scheduled to begin in August at a cost of NT$5.3 billion.
Shui-Mu plans expansion
Shui-Mu International Co (阿瘦實業), the company which makes the popular “A.S.O.” and “BESO” shoes, said it intends to open more than 40 stores in both Taiwan and China next year, marking its highest expansion move in a year.
According to the Chinese-language Economic Daily News yesterday, Shui-Mu president Joseph Lo (羅榮岳) said he wanted to launch about 30 to 40 stores in Taiwan and about 10 in China next year, boosting the total number of stores in both markets to 310.
The company plans to enhance its presence in China by opening a total of 50 outlets within the next three years, from the current five shops, he said.
The shoemaker aims to grow revenues by 10 percent next year to NT$4 billion, Lo said.
NT dollar gains ground
The New Taiwan dollar gained ground against its US counterpart yesterday, adding NT$0.002 to close at NT$30.310 amid thin trading and cautious sentiment ahead of a planned bond auction in Italy, dealers said.
Buying by foreign institutional investors in the local bourse lifted demand for the local currency during the trading session, paving the way for the NT dollar to rise against the greenback, they said.
Turnover totaled US$485 million during the trading session.
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
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
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