TAIEX rallies on US optimism
The TAIEX staged a rally yesterday, with many investors expecting the US Federal Reserve to come up with further liquidity easing measures to boost the economy, dealers said.
The gains also reflected optimism that the constitutional court in Germany was set to rule on whether the European Stability Mechanism bailout fund is constitutional later in the day.
The weighted index closed up 85.32 points, or 1.14 percent, at 7,570.45, after moving between 7,515.04 and 7,571.42, on turnover of NT$103.27 billion (US$3.49 billion), the highest level since Aug. 9.
‘Green goods’ get tax break
Items categorized as environmental goods and services (EGS), due to enjoy tariff cuts as the result of an agreement among APEC members, account for 10 percent of Taiwan’s total exports, the Ministry of Economic Affairs said on Tuesday.
Minister of Economic Affairs Shih Yen-shiang (施顏祥) said this year’s APEC economic ministers’ meeting had produced an agreement to reduce the applied tariff rates on 54 EGS items to less than 5 percent by the end of 2015.
The 54 items include products and services related to reducing water or air pollution, waste management and renewable energy.
TAITRA aims exports at Iraq
Taiwan has set its sights on Iraq in its bid to promote exports to that country, according to the Taiwan External Trade Development Council (TAITRA, 外貿協會).
The Iraqi government has been very active in opening its market to foreign countries after the US completed its troop withdrawal in December last year, the TAITRA said in a statement on Tuesday.
TAITRA said there is massive demand for power supply equipment, infrastructure and machinery, as well as notebook computers and smartphones in Iraq. In addition, TAITRA foresees great potential in the Iraqi car market because the country lacks public transportation.
FSC to relax investment rules
The Financial Supervisory Commission (FSC) on Tuesday announced plans to allow domestic securities investment trust companies greater flexibility so that they may better utilize their funds for domestic investment, according to a commission statement.
Under the current regulations, domestic securities investment trust companies can only invest up to 30 percent of their net worth on trust funds. The commission said it would soon raise the ceiling to 40 percent.
Separately, the commission on Tuesday approved SinoPac Securities Co’s (永豐金證券) plan to acquire Pacific Securities Co (太平洋證券), which will add 10 offices to the total number of outlets of SinoPac Securities to 59.
Breeze Center to expand
In view of a steady growth in its dining and restaurant operations, the Breeze Center (微風廣場) has announced plans to open the first Taiwan location for the Japanese discount store “Don Quixote” and expand its dining operations at the Taipei Railway Station, the Chinese-language Commercial Times reported yesterday.
The department store operator posted consolidated revenue of NT$7.5 billion in the first eight months of this year, up 8 percent from the same period of last year, the paper said, citing company data. Breeze Center has aimed to increase its consolidated sales by 9 percent to NT$11 billion for this year, the paper added.
NT dollar up vs greenback
The New Taiwan dollar rose against the US dollar yesterday, adding NT$0.046 to close at NT$29.669.
Turnover totaled US$816 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
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