G8 meeting boosts TAIEX
The TAIEX got a boost yesterday amid renewed optimism toward the debt situation in Europe, after the leaders of the G8 nations voiced support for Greece remaining in the eurozone, dealers said.
Buying in the local market focused on high-tech stocks, in particular companies in the Apple supply chain, as bargain hunters took advantage of their relatively low valuations after a recent slump, dealers added.
The TAIEX closed up 82.66 points, or 1.15 percent, at the day’s high of 7,274.89, off an early low of 7,164.90. Turnover during the session totaled NT$65.71 billion (US$2.23 billion).
At the end of the session, the construction sector scored the highest gains among the eight largest sectors of the market, finishing up 1.92 percent.
HTC shares rise on Sprint move
Shares of smartphone supplier HTC Corp (宏達電) rose 6.02 percent to NT$431.50 on the Taiwan Stock Exchange yesterday after US telecom operator Sprint announced the HTC EVO 4G LTE, one of the firm’s high-end models, will be available to customers from Thursday.
On its blog, Sprint said it expects “to begin shipping HTC EVO 4G LTE for arrival on or around Thursday, May 24 to customers who pre-ordered the device online from Sprint.”
On May 16, HTC said shipments of its HTC One X and EVO LTE devices had been delayed due to a customs review requested by the US International Trade Commission over a patent dispute with Apple Inc.
Stabilize economy: chamber
The government should take action to stabilize the economy rather than pushing through reform policies, in light of a decline in exports, General Chamber of Commerce chairman Lawrence Chang (張平沼) said yesterday.
Given that exports in the first four months of this year fell 4.7 percent from the same period of last year to US$96.37 billion, it is becoming more urgent for the government to deal with the slowing global economy, he said.
“The government should be very cautious about taking any steps at present, which means it should stabilize Taiwan’s economy first and postpone other reforms,” Chang said on the sidelines of a business seminar in Taipei.
“I think the most important work for the government now is to maintain the stability of the economy to avoid a further drop in the second quarter,” he said.
Kaohsiung moving on zone
The Greater Kaohsiung municipal government has set up a steering committee with industrial parks and port operators to speed up the probable establishment of a free economic zone in the city, Greater Kaohsiung Deputy Mayor Lee Yung-te (李永得) said on Monday.
Lee said the committee would draft a proposal for the economic zone by the end of this year and submit it to the central government for funding and assistance.
Lee said the committee will refer to the examples of Incheon in South Korea, Singapore, Hong Kong and the Netherlands and will suggest that the central government loosen restrictions for the smooth establishment of the zone.
NT dollar gains ground
The New Taiwan dollar gained ground against the US dollar yesterday, adding NT$0.032 to close at NT$29.546 as the local currency gained strength amid rising optimism toward the European debt situation, dealers said.
The strength of other currencies in the region against the US dollar also propelled traders to dump the greenback and raise their Taiwan dollar holdings, they said.
Turnover totaled US$623 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
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
US CONSCULTANT: The US Department of Commerce’s Ursula Burns is a rarely seen US government consultant to be put forward to sit on the board, nominated as an independent director Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電), the world’s largest contract chipmaker, yesterday nominated 10 candidates for its new board of directors, including Ursula Burns from the US Department of Commerce. It is rare that TSMC has nominated a US government consultant to sit on its board. Burns was nominated as one of seven independent directors. She is vice chair of the department’s Advisory Council on Supply Chain Competitiveness. Burns is to stand for election at TSMC’s annual shareholders’ meeting on June 4 along with the rest of the candidates. TSMC chairman Mark Liu (劉德音) was not on the list after in December last