SHARE PRICES CLOSE HIGHER
Share prices closed 0.22 percent higher yesterday as a late sell-off wiped out early gains fueled by Wall Street’s overnight rally and a strong performance on regional markets, dealers said.
The weighted index edged up 10.88 points at 4,942.72 on turnover of NT$67.41 billion.
Gainers outnumbered losers 839 to 598, while 421 shares were unchanged. CHUNGHWA TERMINATES CONTRACT
Chunghwa Telecom Co (中華電信), Taiwan’s largest phone operator, said it has automatically terminated a foreign exchange derivatives contract that it signed last year.
The NT dollar fell past NT$32.7 per US dollar yesterday, triggering an automatic termination of the contract, the Taipei-based company said in an e-mailed statement.
Previous mark-to-market unrealized losses from the deal will be written off this month while the company will also receive an NT$30 million cash inflow from the final settlement, the statement said.HSBC CELEBRATES GROWTH
Amid a protracted financial downturn, the Hong Kong and Shanghai Banking Corp (HSBC, 匯豐銀行) yesterday celebrated annual double growth in HSBC Direct accounts — a banking service launched last September.
Michael Zung (陳民康), the bank’s senior vice president, said that the bank expects to see more growth in Direct accounts in the coming year while aiming at the nation’s 5 million Internet banking users.
The bank’s Direct accounts allow depositors to set up subaccounts to manage their savings while providing an online banking platform that allows clients to purchase mutual funds or insurance products.
The bank also boasts a 24 percent monthly growth in fund investments that Direct account holders will put down on a monthly basis for a fixed amount.
The bank is slated to launch local currency-denominated time deposits to attract more account holders after it imposed a higher interest rate for bank savings.
FDI APPLICATIONS DOWN
The total number of applications of Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) approved in the first nine months of the year was 1,479, down 8.14 percent from the same period a year ago. The amount of FDI approved during the same period was US$5.27 billion, plunging 48.17 percent year-on-year.
Emile Chang (張銘斌), deputy executive secretary of the Investment Commission, said yesterday the decline in the amount of FDI approved was due to a decrease in mergers and acquisitions and the ripple effects of the global financial crisis and liquidity crunch.
In the first nine months of the year, the total number of applications of outward investment approved to all regions except China was 307, down 16.35 percent year-on-year. The amount of outward investment approved went up by 5.43 percent year-on-year to reach US$3.28 billion.
During the same period, the total number of applications of investment to China was 390, down 34 percent year-on-year. The amount approved was US$6.88 billion, up 8.18 percent year-on-year.
CAL OFFERS STAFF UNPAID LEAVE
China Airlines Ltd (CAL, 中華航空), Taiwan’s largest carrier, has offered staff unpaid leave and trimmed its cargo capacity by 10 percent because of slowing demand.
“We’re trying to cut spending,” Bruce Chen (陳鵬宇), a spokesman, said yesterday.
China Airlines’ sales have fallen for two straight months as the global credit crunch curbs passenger travel and the US housing market collapse stunts sales of semiconductors and flat-panel displays. Taiwan’s air-cargo demand is 20 percent lower than a year earlier, Chen said.
BYPASSING CHINA TARIFFS: In the first five months of this year, Foxconn sent US$4.4bn of iPhones to the US from India, compared with US$3.7bn in the whole of last year Nearly all the iPhones exported by Foxconn Technology Group (富士康科技集團) from India went to the US between March and last month, customs data showed, far above last year’s average of 50 percent and a clear sign of Apple Inc’s efforts to bypass high US tariffs imposed on China. The numbers, being reported by Reuters for the first time, show that Apple has realigned its India exports to almost exclusively serve the US market, when previously the devices were more widely distributed to nations including the Netherlands and the Czech Republic. During March to last month, Foxconn, known as Hon Hai Precision Industry
Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) and the University of Tokyo (UTokyo) yesterday announced the launch of the TSMC-UTokyo Lab to promote advanced semiconductor research, education and talent development. The lab is TSMC’s first laboratory collaboration with a university outside Taiwan, the company said in a statement. The lab would leverage “the extensive knowledge, experience, and creativity” of both institutions, the company said. It is located in the Asano Section of UTokyo’s Hongo, Tokyo, campus and would be managed by UTokyo faculty, guided by directors from UTokyo and TSMC, the company said. TSMC began working with UTokyo in 2019, resulting in 21 research projects,
Taiwan’s property market is entering a freeze, with mortgage activity across the nation’s six largest cities plummeting in the first quarter, H&B Realty Co (住商不動產) said yesterday, citing mounting pressure on housing demand amid tighter lending rules and regulatory curbs. Mortgage applications in Taipei, New Taipei City, Taoyuan, Taichung, Tainan and Kaohsiung totaled 28,078 from January to March, a sharp 36.3 percent decline from 44,082 in the same period last year, the nation’s largest real-estate brokerage by franchise said, citing data from the Joint Credit Information Center (JCIC, 聯徵中心). “The simultaneous decline across all six cities reflects just how drastically the market
Ashton Hall’s morning routine involves dunking his head in iced Saratoga Spring Water. For the company that sells the bottled water — Hall’s brand of choice for drinking, brushing his teeth and submerging himself — that is fantastic news. “We’re so thankful to this incredible fitness influencer called Ashton Hall,” Saratoga owner Primo Brands Corp’s CEO Robbert Rietbroek said on an earnings call after Hall’s morning routine video went viral. “He really helped put our brand on the map.” Primo Brands, which was not affiliated with Hall when he made his video, is among the increasing number of companies benefiting from influencer
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