Forex reserves fall in January
Foreign exchange reserves totaled US$425.98 billion as of the end of last month, a decrease of US$53 million from a month earlier, the central bank said yesterday.
The main factor behind the decrease was that returns from the management of reserve assets were offset by the depreciation of the euro and other reserve currencies against the US dollar, the bank said in a statement.
Meanwhile, the market value of securities, bonds and New Taiwan dollar deposits held by foreign investors reached US$242.9 billion at the end of last month, accounting for 57 percent of the foreign exchange reserves, the bank said.
MediaTek sales up 22.11%
Handset chip designer MediaTek Inc (聯發科) yesterday reported better-than-expected sales of NT$21.326 billion (US$636.22 million) last month, up by 22.11 percent from a year earlier and 15.15 percent from the previous month. The company on Monday provided weaker-than-expected sales guidance for this quarter, expecting sales to contract by 7 percent to 15 percent quarterly to between NT$52.5 billion and NT$57.4 billion due to fewer working days caused by the Lunar New Year holiday.
Hota sees record-high sales
Hota Industrial Manufacturing Co (和大工業) yesterday said its consolidated sales last month were the highest monthly figures in the company’s history at NT$502.998 million.
The company, which makes gears and shafts for automobiles, counts BorgWarner Inc, Tesla Motors Inc, Bombardier Recreational Products and Punch Powertrain NV among its major customers. Hota said last month’s sales were 16.45 percent higher than a year earlier and 4.08 percent more than the previous month.
Innolux, AUO sales drop
The nation’s two leading flat-panel makers reported mixed sales last month, dragged down by falling TV panel prices and a weaker NT dollar.
Innolux Corp (群創) yesterday said that consolidated sales decreased 41.5 percent year-on-year and 20.2 percent month-on-month to NT$21.1 billion, while AU Optronics Corp (AUO, 友達光電) reported that consolidated sales dropped 24.4 percent annually and 5.7 percent monthly to NT$24.29 billion last month.
Yuanta Securities Investment Consulting Co (元大投顧) forecast Innolux’s sales this quarter would fall 13.7 percent from last quarter and AUO would report a 7 percent quarterly decline.
ChipMOS repurchasing shares
ChipMOS Technologies Inc (南茂科技), a Hsinchu-based IC packaging and testing services provider, on Thursday said its board plans to repurchase 15 million shares on the open market, as it views current share prices as undervalued and a good investment opportunity.
The company said in a statement that it plans to buy back shares at or below NT$40 per share between yesterday and April 4, with a total purchase of up to NT$600 million.
ChipMOS shares closed at NT$31.8 on Wednesday on the Taiwan Stock Exchange.
ASE extends SPIL share offer
Advanced Semiconductor Engineering Inc (ASE, 日月光半導體), the world’s largest chip tester and packager, on Thursday said it would again extend the period of a tender offer to purchase up to 770 million shares of Siliconware Precision Industries Co (SPIL, 矽品精密) by another month from Feb. 16 to March 14.
ASE, which already owns about an about 25 percent stake in SPIL, said in a statement that the terms and conditions of the offer remain unchanged. ASE in December last year offered to buy 770 million shares, or a 24.7 percent stake in SPIL, at NT$55 per share.
Elan sales drop 20% yearly
Touchpad controller chipmaker Elan Microelectronics Corp (義隆電子) on Thursday said its consolidated sales rose 5.4 percent to NT$532 million last month from the previous month, thanks to higher shipments of touchpad applications used in notebook computers.
However, last month’s sales represented a decrease of 20.3 percent from a year ago, the company said in a statement.
Sales from touch controller-related products accounted for 65 percent of the company’s total revenue last month, with non-touch controller-related products made up the remaining 35 percent.
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
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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
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