Christmas hopes boost TAIEX
The TAIEX jumped technical hurdles ahead of 7,500 points in increased trade to end the session above that level, dealers said.
Buying focused on large-cap stocks in the high-tech sector on hopes that sales of electronics will be boosted by the upcoming Christmas shopping season, while select old-economy shares staged a technical rebound from their relatively low valuations, the dealers said.
The weighted index closed up 68.62 points, or 0.92 percent, at 7,503.55, after moving between 7,466.49 and 7,521.52, on turnover of NT$99.44 billion (US$3.42 billion).
Chipmaker to auction factory
Financially troubled memorychip maker ProMOS Technologies Inc (茂德科技) said it was scheduled to hold a second-round auction for an advanced 12-inch factory on Dec. 12 after an auction conducted earlier yesterday failed to find a winning bidder.
ProMOS said it would set the floor price unchanged at NT$19.2 billion for the new auction.
No bidders yesterday were qualified to sign a contract to buy the plant, as no bidder paid the NT$1.5 billion signing fee, ProMOS said in a filing to the Taiwan Stock Exchange yesterday.
Firms retain ‘best brand’ titles
Seventeen companies have retained their title as the “best brand” in their respective business categories for the fifth year in a row, according to the results of an annual survey released yesterday by Business Today magazine.
Seven of the repeat winners were from Taiwan, namely EVA Airways (長榮航空), Chinatrust (中國信託), Sinyi Realty (信義房屋), Chunghwa Telecom (中華電信), Asustek (華碩), Giant (捷安特) and Taiwan Beer (台啤). The other 10 winners were Chanel, Tiffany, Montblanc, Nike, Hennessey, Johnnie Walker, Regent, Osim, Brands and Amway.
The survey, covering brands in 34 business categories, was conducted from July 26 to Aug. 27 among 1,500 businesspeople in Taiwan. It had a margin of error of plus or minus 2.53 percent.
Reading of trade bill approved
The Legislative Yuan’s Economics Committee on Wednesday approved the first reading of a bill to amend the Trade Secrets Act (營業秘密法), which aims to impose heavy punishment for leaking trade secrets.
The bill must still pass two screenings by the legislature in order to become a law.
It stipulates that those who attempt to steal or disclose trade secrets for personal profit may be subject to up to five years in prison and a fine of NT$1 million to NT$10 million. If the gains from the theft of trade secrets exceed the maximum fine of NT$10 million, the court could raise the fine by up to 300 percent at its discretion, the bill states.
Those found guilty of stealing or disclosing trade secrets to foreign countries, including China, Hong Kong or Macau, may be imprisoned for between one and 10 years and fined between NT$1 million and NT$50 million, according to the bill. If the gains exceed the maximum fine of NT$50 million, the court could increase it by two to 10 times at its discretion, it states.
Current and former civil servants with access to trade secrets could be sentenced up to 150 percent of the normal punishment, if they violate the law, the bill says.
US optimism boosts NT dollar
The New Taiwan dollar gained ground against the US dollar yesterday, adding NT$0.028 to close at NT$29.147 amid increasing optimism toward a possible solution to a pending “fiscal cliff” in Washington, dealers said.
Turnover totaled US$786 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