REAL ESTATE
Brokers out of work
As the slump in the local housing market continues, more than 1,000 real-estate brokers have lost their jobs in the past three years, Chinese Association of Real Estate Brokers chairman Lin Cheng-hsiung (林正雄) said yesterday. The Taipei-based association said the number of real-estate brokerages nationwide had dropped from 6,500 in 2014 to 5,400 last month, and the number could decline further given unfriendly government policies. The association is to continue discussing house and land sales tax cuts with the government to boost market transactions, Lin said. The regulations subject property transaction gains to income taxes of 45 percent if the houses are resold within one year of purchase, and 35 percent for houses sold within two years of purchase.
RETAIL
Mercy Wu to head Eslite
The Eslite Corp (誠品生活) board yesterday unanimously approved company vice chairwoman and president Mercy Wu (吳旻潔) as its new chairwoman with immediate effect, the bookstore chain operator said in a filing with the Taiwan Stock Exchange. The decision came one day after Wu’s father, Robert Wu (吳清友), the founder and chairman of Eslite, died of heart failure on Tuesday night. Mercy Wu started working as Robert Wu’s special assistant in 2005. She was promoted to executive vice president in 2007 and became vice chairwoman in 2010. Eslite shares dropped 0.67 percent to NT$148.5 on the Taipei Exchange yesterday.
TECHNOLOGY
Chipbond mum on rumors
Chipbond Technology Corp (頎邦), a driver integrated circuit packaging and testing-service provider, yesterday declined to comment on rumors that it plans to sell its Chinese unit to Chinese flat-panel manufacturer BOE Technology Group Co (京東方). The Chinese-language United Evening News reported that Chipbond might complete the sale of about 50 percent of its shares in Chipmore Technology Co Ltd (頎中科技) to BOE by the end of September. Chipbond has close business ties with BOE in China, where it runs Chipmore in Suzhou and International Semiconductor Technology Ltd (飛信) in Kunshan.
AVIATION
Fleet upgrade approved
Mandarin Airlines (華信航空), a subsidiary of China Airlines Ltd (中華航空), yesterday said its board approved a plan to introduce nine ATR72-600 aircraft to upgrade its fleet for domestic routes, beginning in November. The board has entrusted chairman Hsieh Shih-chien (謝世謙) to sign leasing agreements with British Aviation PLC for three ATR72-600 and letters of intent with Toulouse, France-based turboprop aircraft manufacturer ATR for another six 70-seat aircraft, Mandarin Airlines said.
TECHNOLOGY
Bixby to understand English
Samsung Electronics Co said its Bixby voice assistant for smartphones would start speaking English, but only in two countries: South Korea and the US. The firm said that starting yesterday, users of Galaxy S8 smartphones can ask their smartphones to turn on the flashlight, take a selfie or search for photographs in English. Samsung did not say why Bixby in English was not made available to users outside South Korea or the US, or when it might be available in other languages in other countries.
The US dollar was trading at NT$29.7 at 10am today on the Taipei Foreign Exchange, as the New Taiwan dollar gained NT$1.364 from the previous close last week. The NT dollar continued to rise today, after surging 3.07 percent on Friday. After opening at NT$30.91, the NT dollar gained more than NT$1 in just 15 minutes, briefly passing the NT$30 mark. Before the US Department of the Treasury's semi-annual currency report came out, expectations that the NT dollar would keep rising were already building. The NT dollar on Friday closed at NT$31.064, up by NT$0.953 — a 3.07 percent single-day gain. Today,
‘SHORT TERM’: The local currency would likely remain strong in the near term, driven by anticipated US trade pressure, capital inflows and expectations of a US Fed rate cut The US dollar is expected to fall below NT$30 in the near term, as traders anticipate increased pressure from Washington for Taiwan to allow the New Taiwan dollar to appreciate, Cathay United Bank (國泰世華銀行) chief economist Lin Chi-chao (林啟超) said. Following a sharp drop in the greenback against the NT dollar on Friday, Lin told the Central News Agency that the local currency is likely to remain strong in the short term, driven in part by market psychology surrounding anticipated US policy pressure. On Friday, the US dollar fell NT$0.953, or 3.07 percent, closing at NT$31.064 — its lowest level since Jan.
The New Taiwan dollar and Taiwanese stocks surged on signs that trade tensions between the world’s top two economies might start easing and as US tech earnings boosted the outlook of the nation’s semiconductor exports. The NT dollar strengthened as much as 3.8 percent versus the US dollar to 30.815, the biggest intraday gain since January 2011, closing at NT$31.064. The benchmark TAIEX jumped 2.73 percent to outperform the region’s equity gauges. Outlook for global trade improved after China said it is assessing possible trade talks with the US, providing a boost for the nation’s currency and shares. As the NT dollar
PRESSURE EXPECTED: The appreciation of the NT dollar reflected expectations that Washington would press Taiwan to boost its currency against the US dollar, dealers said Taiwan’s export-oriented semiconductor and auto part manufacturers are expecting their margins to be affected by large foreign exchange losses as the New Taiwan dollar continued to appreciate sharply against the US dollar yesterday. Among major semiconductor manufacturers, ASE Technology Holding Co (日月光), the world’s largest integrated circuit (IC) packaging and testing services provider, said that whenever the NT dollar rises NT$1 against the greenback, its gross margin is cut by about 1.5 percent. The NT dollar traded as strong as NT$29.59 per US dollar before trimming gains to close NT$0.919, or 2.96 percent, higher at NT$30.145 yesterday in Taipei trading
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