TAIEX closes up slightly
The TAIEX closed little changed after profit taking eroded most of its early gains ahead of stiff technical resistance at about the 7,500-point mark, dealers said.
The early gains encouraged many investors to pocket profits as concerns over the global economy continued to affect market sentiment throughout the trading session, they said.
The weighted index closed up 4.23 points, or 0.06 percent, at 7,422.59, after moving between 7,397.80 and 7,442.55 on turnover of NT$83.37 billion (US$2.80 billion).
In yesterday’s trading, the cement sector scored the highest gains among the eight major sectors of the market, finishing up 1 percent.
Housing sales take tumble
Housing sales in New Taipei City (新北市) fell last month for the first time in five months as sales in some districts decreased sharply, according to city government data released on Tuesday.
The number of housing units sold fell 6.7 percent last month from a month earlier to 6,582, data from the city government’s Land Administration Department showed. On a yearly basis, the number marked a 7.2 percent decrease.
The fall was partly caused by a sharp decline in sales in the Lujhou (蘆洲), Zhonghe (中和) and Shulin (樹林) districts, which fell by 28.1 percent, 19.8 percent and 21.4 percent respectively. However, the sharp declines were mitigated by moderate increases in sales in Linkou (林口), Sinjhuang (新莊), Sijhih (汐止) and Tamsui (淡水) districts.
New CSBC chair appointed
Lai Sun-quae (賴杉桂), former -director-general of the Ministry of Economic Affairs’ Small and Medium Enterprise Administration, officially became CSBC Corp, Taiwan (CSBC, 台灣國際造船) chairman yesterday, replacing Paul Tang (譚泰平), the firm said in a statement.
The 66-year-old Tang, who had served as CSBC chairman since December 2010, reached the normal retirement age last year, but was retained by the ministry — the company’s largest shareholder — for one more year.
Under Tang’s leadership the company made a profit of NT$1.74 billion, or NT$2.41 per share, last year, up from NT$1.71 billion, or NT$2.35 per share, recorded in 2010, company statistics showed.
Hon Hai vice president resigns
Hon Hai Group (鴻海集團) yesterday confirmed local media reports that the group vice president Terry Cheng (程天縱) had tendered his resignation, citing health problem.
The group said Cheng was also resigning from his posts as a board director and executive officer at Hong Kong-listed Foxconn International Holdings (FIH, 富士康控股), which is a handset manufacturing arm of Hon Hai Group.
Cheng is not scheduled to leave his current positions until July 31.
Beats acquires MOG assets
Beats Electronics, a unit of Taiwanese handset maker HTC Corp (宏達電), has acquired assets owned by digital music subscription service MOG Inc through subsidiary Daisy LLC, according to an HTC filing with the Taiwan Stock Exchange on Tuesday.
HTC said the US$14 million deal was approved by Beats’ board of directors and the amount “was negotiated by both parties involved.”
HTC declined to comment on the filing or provide further details of the deal.
Taiwan dollar makes ground
The New Taiwan dollar gained ground against the US dollar yesterday, adding NT$0.02 to close at NT$29.866 as improving sentiment toward the global economy drove traders to move their funds out of the greenback, dealers said.
Turnover totaled US$474 million during the trading session.
China has claimed a breakthrough in developing homegrown chipmaking equipment, an important step in overcoming US sanctions designed to thwart Beijing’s semiconductor goals. State-linked organizations are advised to use a new laser-based immersion lithography machine with a resolution of 65 nanometers or better, the Chinese Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (MIIT) said in an announcement this month. Although the note does not specify the supplier, the spec marks a significant step up from the previous most advanced indigenous equipment — developed by Shanghai Micro Electronics Equipment Group Co (SMEE, 上海微電子) — which stood at about 90 nanometers. MIIT’s claimed advances last
ISSUES: Gogoro has been struggling with ballooning losses and was recently embroiled in alleged subsidy fraud, using Chinese-made components instead of locally made parts Gogoro Inc (睿能創意), the nation’s biggest electric scooter maker, yesterday said that its chairman and CEO Horace Luke (陸學森) has resigned amid chronic losses and probes into the company’s alleged involvement in subsidy fraud. The board of directors nominated Reuntex Group (潤泰集團) general counsel Tamon Tseng (曾夢達) as the company’s new chairman, Gogoro said in a statement. Ruentex is Gogoro’s biggest stakeholder. Gogoro Taiwan general manager Henry Chiang (姜家煒) is to serve as acting CEO during the interim period, the statement said. Luke’s departure came as a bombshell yesterday. As a company founder, he has played a key role in pushing for the
Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) has appointed Rose Castanares, executive vice president of TSMC Arizona, as president of the subsidiary, which is responsible for carrying out massive investments by the Taiwanese tech giant in the US state, the company said in a statement yesterday. Castanares will succeed Brian Harrison as president of the Arizona subsidiary on Oct. 1 after the incumbent president steps down from the position with a transfer to the Arizona CEO office to serve as an advisor to TSMC Arizona’s chairman, the statement said. According to TSMC, Harrison is scheduled to retire on Dec. 31. Castanares joined TSMC in
EUROPE ON HOLD: Among a flurry of announcements, Intel said it would postpone new factories in Germany and Poland, but remains committed to its US expansion Intel Corp chief executive officer Pat Gelsinger has landed Amazon.com Inc’s Amazon Web Services (AWS) as a customer for the company’s manufacturing business, potentially bringing work to new plants under construction in the US and boosting his efforts to turn around the embattled chipmaker. Intel and AWS are to coinvest in a custom semiconductor for artificial intelligence computing — what is known as a fabric chip — in a “multiyear, multibillion-dollar framework,” Intel said in a statement on Monday. The work would rely on Intel’s 18A process, an advanced chipmaking technology. Intel shares rose more than 8 percent in late trading after the