STOCKS
Capitalization drops
The market capitalization of the main board stood at NT$23.72 trillion last week, down NT$10.76 billion from a week earlier, as the TAIEX fell 82.21 points, or 1.01 percent in the week, according to the Taiwan Stock Exchange (TWSE). Among the major sectors on the main board, the steel sector scored the highest gains of 1.52 percent, while the optoelectronics sector suffered the steepest losses of 3.65 percent, the TWSE said. The exchange said that the total turnover on the main board totaled NT$236.71 billion last week. Since the beginning of this year, total turnover amounted to NT$1.97 trillion with the daily average at NT$82.14 billion, data showed.
ELECTRONICS
Lite-On revenue drops 9%
Electronics component maker Lite-On Technology Corp (光寶科技) on Friday reported consolidated revenue of NT$17.34 billion for last month, down 9 percent both annually and monthly, which the company attributed to a slowdown of worldwide end-market demand. The company said in a statement that the information technologies business segment accounted for 48 percent of its overall revenue last month, while the optoelectronics business segment contributed 25 percent and the storage segment 17 percent.
SMARTPHONES
Upgrades boost shipments
Chinese vendors and foreign brands shipped 119 million smartphones in China last quarter, an increase of 11.5 percent from the previous quarter, according to a report by Digitimes Research last week. The Taipei-based market researcher attributed the shipment increase in the October-to-December quarter to telecom carriers’ programs encouraging 2G users to migrate to 4G services and launches of new handsets by vendors that spurred replacement demand. For this quarter, shipments may decrease by more than 20 percent from last quarter, as vendors may need to lower their inventories extending from last quarter, Digitimes said.
WEARABLES
Gartner expects increase
Global shipments of wearable devices are forecast to reach 274.6 million units this year, an 18.4 percent increase from last year’s 232.01 million units, and the number is expected to increase further to 322.69 million units next year, market researcher Gartner Inc said in a report released last week. Total sales of wearable devices are estimated to reach US$28.7 billion this year, Gartner said. Angela Mclntyre, a research director at Gartner, said smartwatches have the greatest revenue potential among all wearables through 2019, reaching US$17.5 billion. Global shipments of smartwatches are predicted to increase to 50.5 million units this year from 30.3 million units last year, and further to 66.71 million unit next year, Gartner said.
BAILOUTS
Sri Lanka turns to IMF
Sri Lanka has made a formal request for an IMF bailout package to aid its struggling economy after a sharp slowdown in growth and with its budget deficit widening, officials said on Saturday. The IMF confirmed the island nation had asked for assistance, but did not give details on the value of a potential program or say whether it would grant the request. The IMF said it had sent a mission this week to review Sri Lanka’s economy. Sri Lanka received US$2.6 billion from the IMF in 2009 to boost its financial reserves, which had dropped below US$1 billion at the height of fighting between Tamil Tiger rebels and government forces.
TAXATION
Turnbull unconvinced
Australian Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull said he has yet to be convinced of the benefits of increasing the goods and services tax (GST) unless it boosts economic growth and employment. The government, which is expected to hold an election in the second half of the year, is looking at an overhaul of the taxation system, including a potential increase in the GST to 15 percent from 10 percent. An increase in the GST by itself would be negative because the question remains what you do with the proceeds, Turnbull said. A survey by Newspoll published in the Australian newspaper on Feb. 1 showed that 54 percent of Australians oppose the GST hike as part of a reform package that may also include income tax cuts.
BANKING
UK lawmakers monitor fines
The head of a committee of UK lawmakers called on Chancellor of the Exchequer George Osborne to guarantee banks would not be able to offset the cost of fines against their corporation-tax bills. Treasury Committee Chairman Andrew Tyrie wrote to Osborne asking him to clarify whether fines and other payments made to regulators at home or abroad — such as being asked by the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) to hire someone externally to conduct a review — would not be tax deductible. In a letter published on Sunday, Tyrie said clarification by the chancellor is needed to ensure that the good intentions of the statutory change. “Taxpayers shouldn’t pay a penny of them,” he wrote.
RUSSIA
Budget swells by US$7.79bn
Russia’s additional budget expenditure, including support to ailing state development bank Vnesheconombank (VEB), will amount to approximately 600 billion roubles (US$7.79 billion) this year, Russian Finance Minister Anton Siluanov said on Saturday. Siluanov said that at oil prices of US$30 per barrel, the state would receive 2 trillion to 2.5 trillion roubles less revenue than planned this year and the budget deficit would exceed 3 percent of GDP. Russia could draw on its reserve fund to cover the shortfall, but this was a possibility the government will try to avoid, he added.
CARS
Scaglietti sold for US$35.6m
A 1957 Ferrari 335 S Spider Scaglietti was sold for a record 32 million euros (US$35.6 million) at an auction in Paris on Friday. The Ferrari enabled the Italian manufacturer to win the Constructors’ World Championship title in 1957. The previous record was held by another Ferrari, a 250 GTO which went for 28.5 million euros in 2014, Artcurial Motocars auction house managing director Matthieu Lamoure said. The identity of the purchaser of the Spider was not revealed following Friday’s deal, but is US-based, Lamoure said.
INTERNET
African emojis launched
App developers have launched a series of uniquely African emojis of characters dressed in colorful traditional attire using popular local expressions and gestures. Afro Emoji founder Nigerian-American Ayoola Daramola said there was a gap in the market for images representing African mobile phone users. The app offers 50 characters in 300 different stickers and translates the local expressions. The characters mainly use popular Nigerian phrases like Abeg, meaning “I beg of you.” Afro Emoji spokeswoman Jessica Hope said the Washington-based company plans to expand its gallery to include images from other African cultures.
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