TAIEX fails to breach 8,000
The TAIEX closed lower yesterday as investors again came up against technical hurdles when the benchmark index approached 8,000 points, dealers said.
While some large-cap high-tech stocks, in particular smartphone camera lens supplier Largan Precision Co (大立光), regained momentum, the broader market moved in a narrow range as investors lacked incentives to chase prices, they said.
The weighted index closed down 24.27 points, or 0.31 percent, at 7,927.49 on turnover of NT$92.12 billion (US$3.10 billion).
Largan shares gained 4.56 percent to close at NT$779 on speculation that the company had secured orders from South Korea’s Samsung Electronics Co, which unveiled its latest flagship smartphone — the Galaxy S4 — in New York on Thursday.
TransAsia launches new route
TransAsia Airways (復興航空) launched direct flights between Taipei and Bangkok yesterday to take advantage of growing local interest in Thailand.
More than 35,000 people traveled between Taiwan and Thailand in January, an increase of 42 percent compared with the same period last year, according to Tourism Bureau figures.
TransAsia said it would operate daily flights between Taipei and Bangkok using its newly acquired Airbus A330 planes, the carrier’s first wide-body aircraft. Bangkok is the second flight destination TransAsia has established in Southeast Asia after Singapore.
The company said it is planning to add routes to Tokyo, Jakarta and Kuala Lumpur later this year to expand its presence in Asia.
Ministry approves investments
The Ministry of Economic Affairs yesterday approved two investment projects totaling NT$1.65 billion, including one by G-Tech Optoelectronics Co (正達國際光電), a LCD cover glass manufacturing arm of Hon Hai Precision Industry Co (鴻海精密).
The ministry declined to reveal the name of another company, but said the two investments would create 300 jobs in the north and south of the nation.
G-Tech plans to boost cover glass capacity by 16 percent to 2.9 million units in the first half of this year, compared with 2.5 million units at the end of last year, according to the company’s financial statement.
The company operates five factories in Taiwan and three in China.
As yesterday, the ministry has approved 26 projects by Taiwanese companies with operations overseas that plan to invest NT$174 billion in Taiwan and create up to 26,000 jobs, it said.
Formosa Sumco profits slump
Local wafer maker Formosa Sumco Technology Corp (台勝科) yesterday said it made NT$83.17 million in net profit last year, or earnings per share of NT$0.11.
That was an 42 percent annual decline from a net profit of NT$143.66 million, or earnings per share of NT$0.19, in 2011.
Revenue increased 12 percent to NT$9.51 billion last year, compared with NT$8.49 billion in 2011, the company said in a filing.
Lens sales still on the rise
Sales of disposable contact lenses in Taiwan remain on the rise, despite the sluggish domestic and global economies, market research company GfK Group said on Thursday.
Domestic sales of one-day contact lenses grew 7 percent last year, after posting double-digit growth a year earlier, Alice Lee (李岱青), a senior analyst at GfK, said in a research note.
Lee said one-day contact lenses have captured 60 percent of the nation’s contact lens market. She forecast sales of the lenses would grow again this year, because the market is not yet saturated.
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