TAIEX edges down
The TAIEX closed with little change yesterday as large-cap high-tech stocks lost their luster on profit-taking after a recent strong showing, dealers said.
However, the losses were offset by interest in old-economy companies, such as “China concept stocks” — companies that have close ties with China — keeping the index relatively flat, they said.
Turnover remained slim as many investors preferred to stay on the sidelines, waiting to see if Washington would resolve its looming “fiscal cliff,” they added.
The weighted index ended down 2.38 points, or 0.03 percent, at 7,634.19, on turnover of NT$56.64 billion (US$1.95 billion).
Acer gains from land sale
Acer Inc (宏碁), the world’s No. 4 PC brand, yesterday said it had booked a gain of NT$85.43 million through a NT$555.55 million land sale in Taoyuan County’s Lungtan Township (龍潭).
Acer said it sold the 12,956 ping (42,830m2) plot of land to Crown Machinery Co (樺欣機械), based in Dayuan Township (大園) at NT$42,880 per ping, a filing to the Taiwan Stock Exchange showed.
HTC J Butterfly best-seller
HTC Corp’s (宏達電) new 5-inch flagship smartphone was among one of the best-selling mobile phones in Japan, according to IT industry researcher BCN’s sales rankings, released on Tuesday.
The HTC J Butterfly, which went on sale in Japan earlier this month, ranked 10th in the weekly survey conducted from Dec. 17 to Sunday, moving one spot higher than in the previous survey, the Tokyo-based research firm said.
Sharp Corp’s 4.9-inch AQUOS PHONE ZETA SH-02E remained the top mobile phone in the ranking, followed by Sony Corp’s 4.3-inch Xperia AX SO-01E. The third to fifth places went to Apple Inc’s iPhone 5, BCN said.
Company Act clarified
Lawmakers on Tuesday passed an amendment to the Companies Act (公司法) to clarify that the act only regulates the transfer of shares in publicly listed companies and not in family-owned businesses.
The amendment to Article 197 of the act invalidates the appointment of any publicly listed company director who transfers more than half of his or her shares just before taking office or before a shareholders’ meeting.
Taiwan Solidarity Union Legislator Hsu Chung-hsin (許忠信) said the revision would help boost capital liquidity among non-publicly listed companies.
ECCT welcomes grace period
The European Chamber of Commerce Taipei (ECCT) yesterday welcomed a two-year grace period for the introduction of new wiring standards that affect its members in the electrical engineering and equipment industry.
The foreign trade group voiced its relief after the Bureau of Energy under the Ministry of Economic Affairs on Tuesday said it would give companies a two-year grace period to make it easier to comply with the rules.
“While the development does not completely resolve the issue for our members, it allows business to continue and demonstrates the government’s commitment to keeping Taiwan’s markets open,” the chamber said in a statement.
NT dollar up on greenback
The New Taiwan dollar strengthened against the US dollar yesterday, adding NT$0.002 to close at NT$29.128 in reflecting fund inflows, dealers said.
Traders used a stronger South Korean won as a reason to buy into the NT dollar, but cut their US dollar holdings, betting that more fund inflows into the Asian market would continue to lift the regional currencies, they 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
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
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