JAPAN
Central bank holds rates
Japan’s central bank ended its latest policy meeting yesterday with no change in the country’s key interest rate, resisting government pressure for further easing. The Bank of Japan said in a statement yesterday that it expected the world’s third-largest economy to “level off” for now, with inflation at about 0 percent. The BOJ said it would continue asset purchases and other “powerful monetary easing” announced last month. It also urged that greater attention be paid to the impact of financial and foreign exchange markets on the economy.
TECHNOLOGY
Sony suspends tablet sales
Sony Corp suspended sales of a tablet computer that was introduced last month, citing a water-proofing defect. The electronics maker told customers on its Web site yesterday that it is halting sales of the Xperia Tablet S and will offer free repairs. Sony will offer repairs in regions where the device is available, including Taiwan, the US, Canada, Europe and Oceania, Noriko Shoji, a spokesperson for the Tokyo-based company, said yesterday.
AVIATION
Airline extends shutdown
India’s Kingfisher Airlines has extended its shutdown and will not fly any planes for another week, unless it can convince pilots and engineers who have not been paid for months to return to work. Chief executive Sanjay Aggarwal has been crisscrossing the country to meet disgruntled employees, but has not reached a deal, forcing the airline to prolong the shutdown that was meant to end yesterday. The airline is flying less than one-fifth of the number of planes it was a year ago and its share of the domestic market plunged to 3.2 percent in August.
SOCIAL MEDIA
Zynga shares plunge
Zynga shares plunged anew on Thursday after the company behind social games such as FarmVille cut its earnings forecast for the year. Shares dove more than 18 percent to US$2.28 in after-market trading on the NASDAQ. Zynga cited curbed play of its games along with delays in releasing new titles as among the cause for reducing its revenue expectations. The San Francisco-based company said it will also be hit with a writedown of as much as US$95 million from its purchase early this year of OMGPOP, the startup behind the Draw Something game that was a smartphone hit.
FINANCE
Mizuho to book loss
Japan’s Mizuho Financial Group said yesterday it will book a securities valuation loss of more than US$2 billion for the quarter to last month, citing a steep drop in the value of some of the securities it holds. The banking group said the loss of ¥173.7 billion (US$2.2 billion) would be the result of a write-off of losses caused by the considerable decline in the market value of shares.
INSURANCE
Firms stop covering riots
Big Japanese insurers have stopped covering firms against riots in China, a report said yesterday. Major non-life insurers, including Tokio Marine and Nichido Fire Insurance, had been selling policies that cover damage from strikes, riots and civil commotion. However, they have stopped accepting new applications for such riders or requests for expanded coverage since protests targeting Japanese businesses erupted in cities across China, the Nikkei newspaper said.
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