TAIEX closes above 7,900
The TAIEX staged a rebound yesterday to close above the 7,900-point level as investors took cues from a rising Wall Street overnight and comebacks on other regional markets, dealers said.
Bargain hunters took advantage of the market’s 1.22 percent dive on Monday by buying financial and high-tech stocks, helping the broader market overcome technical hurdles ahead of 7,900 points, they said.
The weighted index closed up 65.37 points, or 0.83 percent, at 7,932.71, after moving between 7,882.56 and 7,939.85, on turnover of NT$91.88 billion (US$3.09 billion).
DRAM prices hit 20-month high
Spot market prices for a benchmark DRAM chip hit a 20-month high of US$1.52 (NT$45.14) on Monday, according to the latest report released by Taipei-based market information advisory firm TrendForce Corp (集邦科技).
The spot market price of the benchmark DDR3 2Gb DRAM rose 5.55 percent in the first two business days this month from the end of last month. The 5.5 percent increase followed a 34.6 percent jump in prices in the first two months of this year from the end of last year, TrendForce said.
New Media User Lab launched
The New Media User Lab was launched on Monday as part of efforts to provide an alternative to Taiwan’s widely used TV audience survey by AGB Nielsen.
Jointly organized by local industry group Cloud & Connect TV Forum and the state-run Institute for Information Industry, the new platform aims to regularly offer audience rating surveys on a wider range of media, such as digital TVs, connected TVs and smart TVs.
Sixty-six local companies, including cable TV operators, academic institutions, content providers and media agencies, have applied to join the lab, which uses set-top boxes to rapidly collect samples through cloud-computing technology, the forum said.
The lab has established a sample pool of 150,000 nationwide users and the numbers are expected to grow to 300,000 next year with more cable system operators joining the platform, it said.
Buyers invited to meetings
Taiwan has invited 600 international buyers from 60 economies to attend procurement meetings in Taipei on March 28 in a bid to strengthen the country’s exports, Taiwan’s main trade promotions body said on Monday.
One-on-one procurement meetings with domestic businesses will be arranged for the 600 potential foreign buyers, and they are expected to generate US$4.6 billion in business opportunities, about US$100 million more than last year, the Taiwan External Trade Development Council said.
The foreign buyers invited by the council are mainly in the information and communications technology, machinery, solar energy, LED and automobile parts and components sectors.
Forex reserves stable
Taiwan’s foreign exchange reserves amounted to US$404.08 billion as of the end of last month, a decrease of US$2.48 billion from January, maintaining the nation’s position as having the world’s fourth-largest foreign exchange reserves behind China, Japan and Russia, the central bank said yesterday.
“The euro and other major currencies depreciated against the US dollar last month, making a decrease in foreign exchange reserves greater than the returns from foreign exchange reserves management,” said Lin Sun-yuan (林孫源), director-general of the bank’s department of foreign exchange.
The market value of securities investments and New Taiwan dollar deposits held by foreign investors reached US$225.2 billion at the end of last month, equivalent to 56 percent of foreign exchange reserves, the bank said.
NT dollar up NT$0.05
The New Taiwan dollar rose against the US dollar yesterday, adding NT$0.05 to close at NT$29.720.
Turnover totaled US$766 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
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