STOCK MARKETS
Shares bounce back
Local shares yesterday bounced back from a session earlier, led by the bellwether electronics sector, but the TAIEX still closed below the 9,800-point mark, dealers said. While chipmaker Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) moved higher, lending support to the broader market, turnover remained thin, with many investors appearing reluctant to chase prices ahead of a TSMC investors’ conference later in the day, they said. The TAIEX closed up 25.34 points, or 0.26 percent, at 9,789.15, on turnover of NT$90.856 billion (US$2.95 billion). Foreign institutional investors bought a net NT$1.18 billion of shares on the main board, the Taiwan Stock Exchange said.
TRADE
Taiwan’s ranking improves
Taiwan’s trade competitiveness ranking rose one notch from a year earlier to 16th in rankings released on Wednesday by the Importers and Exporters Association of Taipei (IEAT, 台北市進出口公會). The improvement ended six consecutive years of decline, the association said. In the latest survey, the US took top position, up from third last year, while China dropped from 21st to 23rd. Singapore was second, ahead of the Netherlands, Germany, Australia, Hong Kong, Japan, Canada, Israel and the UK, the survey found. South Korea was 15th, unchanged from a year earlier, the survey showed.
RENUMERATION
FPG bonuses revealed
Formosa Plastics Group (FPG, 台塑集團) is to distribute employee bonuses equivalent to 5.83 months’ salary, one of its labor unions said on Tuesday. In addition, each worker is to receive a gift of NT$15,000 ahead of the Lunar New Year holiday, which starts on Feb. 2, the union said. The bonus plus the cash gift would be the equivalent of almost six months’ salary for most employees, said Wu Chi-chung (吳祈忠), head of the worker’s union of Nan Ya Plastics Corp (南亞塑膠). However, the amount is smaller than last year, which was equivalent to six months’ pay, while the cash gift was NT$22,000 per worker, a reflection of lower bottom lines at FPG subsidiaries last year after record profits in 2017.
ENTERTAINMENT
IGS announces income
International Games System Co (IGS, 鈊象), the nation’s largest arcade and online game developer, on Tuesday reported better-than-expected pretax income of NT$99.864 million for last month, or earnings per share of NT$1.41. For the whole of last year, the company’s pretax earnings per share were NT$13.1, topping its local peers. Consolidated revenue decreased 7.44 percent to NT$3.07 billion from NT$3.31 billion, IGS said in a regulatory filing.
SOCIAL MEDIA
Snap to lose CFO
The company behind Snapchat is losing its second chief financial officer (CFO) in less than a year as the social media service confronts a declining user base and stiff competition from bigger rivals. Snap Inc said that chief financial officer Tim Stone is to leave to pursue unspecified opportunities. He joined Snap just eight months ago after two decades at Amazon.com Inc. A number of top executives have left Snap in recent months. Stone had been seen as someone who might bring more stability to Snap’s executive ranks. Shares of Snap tumbled 12 percent on Wednesday.
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