Securities firms lose billions
Securities companies in Taiwan incurred a combined net loss of NT$716 million (US$23.87 billion) last month owing to shrinking daily turnover as investors stayed on the sidelines during the period, the Taiwan Stock Exchange said yesterday.
Average daily turnover fell to NT$67.97 billion last month from NT$89.20 billion a month earlier.
Market analysts said the decline reflected cautious sentiment toward the domestic environment ahead of Saturday’s presidential election.
For the whole of last year, securities companies in Taiwan posted NT$17 billion in net profit.
No 3G Eee Pad: Asustek
Asustek Computer Inc (華碩) said yesterday that it has no plan to launch a 3G version of its Eee Pad Transformer Prime tablet computer as some local media have reported.
Earlier this month, media reports said that Asustek was expected to introduce a 3G-enabled Transformer Prime in the first quarter of this year with an improved casing design.
However, Asustek said these reports were erroneous and “no such product exists on its current roadmap,” a company statement said.
The company also said that it expected to launch 3G models for other high-end products in the Transformer family to expand its tablet PC portfolio.
TAITRA to set up China pavilion
The Taiwan External Trade Development Council (TAITRA, 外貿協會), the government-sponsored trade promotion group, will set up a Taiwan pavilion in Dongguan in China’s Guangdong Province to promote products made by Taiwanese companies based in the city, Vice Minister of Economic Affairs Lin Sheng-chung (林聖忠) said on Saturday.
In addition, Taiwanese investors in Dongguan have scheduled a trade fair for April for a similar promotion, Lin said.
He said he has met with Bureau of Foreign Trade Director-General Bill Cho (卓士昭) and TAITRA executive vice president Peter Huang (黃文榮) to discuss the need to grant subsidies for the April trade exhibition.
TransAsia offers extra flights
TransAsia Airways Corp (復興航空), a mid-sized Taiwanese carrier, said last week it would offer 12 additional flights during the Lunar New Year holiday to meet heavy demand on its Kinmen and Penghu routes.
The additional flights will be available on Saturday, Jan. 26 and 29 between Taiwan proper and the two outlying islands, offering a total of 864 seats, the airline said.
Of the total, four flights will be between Taiwan and Kinmen, and eight will be between Taiwan and Penghu, with all of them open for reservations, it said.
In total, the carrier said it would operate 178 additional flights between Jan. 21 and Jan. 29, that would accommodate about 13,000 passengers to help provide a better service during the busy holiday period.
NT dollar falls slightly
The New Taiwan dollar fell against its US counterpart yesterday, falling NT$0.07 to close at NT$30.070 as renewed worries over the debt crisis in the eurozone put downward pressure on the local currency, dealers said.
Profit-taking in the local bourse also placed downward pressure on the NT dollar as foreign investors pocketed the gains they have built in recent sessions, they added.
The NT dollar opened at NT$30.12 against the greenback and moved between NT$29.97 and NT$30.121 before the close. Turnover totaled US$778 million during the trading session.
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
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