STOCK MARKET
TAIEX falls 0.83 percent
The TAIEX fell 0.83 percent yesterday, taking its cue from the 200-point decline in the Dow Jones Industrial Average overnight, dealers said, but the market’s benchmark index remained above the 7,800-point mark. The TAIEX closed at 7,828.67, with thin turnover of NT$61.54 billion (US$1.82 billion). All major share sub-indices lost ground, with the financial sub-index falling the most at 1.49 percent. China Development Financial Holding Co (中華開發金控) was one of the few financial institutions to buck the trend, posting a 6.19 percent gain to close at NT$7.72. In the electronics sector, the biggest gainer was smartphone camera lens supplier Largan Precision Co (大立光), which surged 7.95 percent to close at NT$2,240. With only seven trading days left before the Lunar New Year holiday, analysts said uncertainties in international equity markets would lead Taiwanese investors to minimize their holdings through the holiday period. A fear of being stuck with too many stocks heading into the long holiday has been a factor in the anemic turnover seen in the nation in recent days, they said.
TELECOMS
Taiwan Star eyes subscribers
Taiwan Star Telecom Corp (台灣之星) yesterday said it aims to boost its number of 4G subscribers by 2.5 times annually and increase its number of stores to 500 by the end of this year in a bid to expand its customer base. The telecom operator said its revenue climbed at a better-than-expected pace of 7 percent to NT$10.44 billion last year, fueled by the number of its 4G subscribers, which jumped 154 percent from a year earlier, company president Cliff Lai (賴弦五) said. Lai said Taiwan Star aims to increase its annual revenue by 16 percent this year, adding that the company plans to increase its capital expenditure by 40 percent this year, with the majority of the investment to go toward infrastructure costs for the 2,600MHz and 900MHz frequency bands, without disclosing the amount of the capital expenditure.
FINANCIAL SERVICES
Chailease reports growth
Chailease Holding Co Ltd (中租控股), the nation’s largest leasing service provider, on Monday reported 10 percent annual growth in its net income for last month to NT$621 million. That brought the company’s net income last year to NT$6.87 billion, setting an all-time high since the company’s listing, it said. That translated into earnings per share of NT$6.03 for last year. The company said earnings last year were boosted by its growing portfolio of interest-bearing assets, and rising revenues in Taiwan and China.
ECONOMY
S&P trims Taiwan forecast
US-based international credit rating agency Standard & Poor’s (S&P) revised its forecast for Taiwan’s economic growth for this year to 2.1 percent, down by 0.1 percentage points from its estimate in September last year, according to a report published on Monday by Taiwan Ratings Corp (中華信評), a local partner of S&P. S&P forecast the nation’s economy would grow by 2.1 percent this year and 2.3 percent next year, according to the report, which looks at how weakening GDP growth in China, volatile commodity prices and Taiwan’s weakening real-estate market could further pressure rating profiles this year. Taiwan Ratings said that, despite a continuing US economic recovery, slowing Chinese economic growth and intensified competition with other exporting nations facing Taiwan’s exporters could put greater pressure on the nation’s growth this year.
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