Shares rise on extended buying
Taiwanese shares closed up 1.04 percent yesterday on extended buying after Wall Street posted gains for the fourth consecutive day, dealers said.
The TAIEX index rose 70.69 points to 6,850.99 on turnover of NT$133.07 billion (US$4.04 billion). Gainers led losers 1,554 to 735 with 190 stocks unchanged.
The market opened up 1.06 percent as investors took the lead from further gains on Wall Street overnight, helping the index breach the 6,800 point mark, dealers said.
“The better than expected Intel quarterly results continued to weigh in the local bourse,” Grand Cathay Securities (大華證券) analyst Mars Hsu said.
“Encouraged by a stronger NASDAQ, investors here seemed to have turned upbeat about the outlook of the global high tech sector for the third quarter,” Hsu said. “But, the room for further upside is limited as the index moves closer to the stiff resistance at around the key 7,000 point level.”
CPC to cut fuel prices
State-owned oil refiner CPC Corp, Taiwan (CPC, 台灣中油) and its private rival Formosa Petrochemical Corp (台塑石化) said yesterday they would cut prices of gasoline and diesel products by NT$0.4 and NT$0.5 per liter respectively. The new prices took effect last night for Formosa, and today for CPC.
After the adjustment, CPC’s price for a liter of 98-octane unleaded gasoline is NT$29.2. The price of 95-octane unleaded gasoline is NT$27.7 and 92-octane unleaded gasoline is NT$27.0 per liter. Diesel is NT$24.3 per liter.
Taipower orders CSBC vessels
CSBC Corp, Taiwan (CSBC, 台灣國際造船), the nation’s largest ship builder, obtained another government order yesterday. State-run Taiwan Power Co (Taipower, 台電) placed an order for four 93,300 TEU (twenty-foot equivalent unit) coal transporting container vessels valued at NT$6 billion.
Combined with last week’s NT$3.2 billion order for two 40,000 TEU oil tankers from CPC Corp, Taiwan (台灣中油), CSBC has secured a total of NT$9.2 billion from the two state firms so far this year. Both orders are expected to deliver in 2011.
Wistron plans China investment
Local contract notebook maker Wistron Corp (緯創) plans to invest US$100 million into Wistron InfoComm (Taizhou) Co (緯創資通泰州) in China over the next three years in expectation of strong expansion in the notebook market.
The company’s board also approved a reduction in dividend payout from NT$1,080 to NT$982.8 per 1,000 common shares and a stock distribution decrease from 108 shares to 98.28 shares per 1,000 common shares. The ex-dividend date for Wistron stock is Aug. 4.
Chinese firms buy Taiwanese
Visiting Chinese retailers placed orders for US$146 million of goods from Taiwan this week, the Taiwan External Trade Development Council (TAITRA, 外貿協會) said in a statement yesterday.
The Chinese companies will spend an additional US$600 million in Taiwan in the next year, TAITRA chairman Wang Chih-kang (王志剛) said yesterday. Chinese representatives arrived last Sunday to meet suppliers.
Hefei Department Store Group Co (合肥百貨) signed a supply agreement with Uni-President Enterprises Corp (統一企業), said the Association of Trade and Economic Exchange Across the Taiwan Straits, which leads the Chinese trade group.
NT dollar edges up
The New Taiwan dollar gained ground against the US dollar on the Taipei Foreign Exchange yesterday, edging up NT$0.004 to close at NT$32.955. Turnover was US$544 million.
Real estate agent and property developer JSL Construction & Development Co (愛山林) led the average compensation rankings among companies listed on the Taiwan Stock Exchange (TWSE) last year, while contract chipmaker Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) finished 14th. JSL Construction paid its employees total average compensation of NT$4.78 million (US$159,701), down 13.5 percent from a year earlier, but still ahead of the most profitable listed tech giants, including TSMC, TWSE data showed. Last year, the average compensation (which includes salary, overtime, bonuses and allowances) paid by TSMC rose 21.6 percent to reach about NT$3.33 million, lifting its ranking by 10 notches
Popular vape brands such as Geek Bar might get more expensive in the US — if you can find them at all. Shipments of vapes from China to the US ground to a near halt last month from a year ago, official data showed, hit by US President Donald Trump’s tariffs and a crackdown on unauthorized e-cigarettes in the world’s biggest market for smoking alternatives. That includes Geek Bar, a brand of flavored vapes that is not authorized to sell in the US, but which had been widely available due to porous import controls. One retailer, who asked not to be named, because
SEASONAL WEAKNESS: The combined revenue of the top 10 foundries fell 5.4%, but rush orders and China’s subsidies partially offset slowing demand Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) further solidified its dominance in the global wafer foundry business in the first quarter of this year, remaining far ahead of its closest rival, Samsung Electronics Co, TrendForce Corp (集邦科技) said yesterday. TSMC posted US$25.52 billion in sales in the January-to-March period, down 5 percent from the previous quarter, but its market share rose from 67.1 percent the previous quarter to 67.6 percent, TrendForce said in a report. While smartphone-related wafer shipments declined in the first quarter due to seasonal factors, solid demand for artificial intelligence (AI) and high-performance computing (HPC) devices and urgent TV-related orders
MINERAL DIPLOMACY: The Chinese commerce ministry said it approved applications for the export of rare earths in a move that could help ease US-China trade tensions Chinese Vice Premier He Lifeng (何立峰) is today to meet a US delegation for talks in the UK, Beijing announced on Saturday amid a fragile truce in the trade dispute between the two powers. He is to visit the UK from yesterday to Friday at the invitation of the British government, the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs said in a statement. He and US representatives are to cochair the first meeting of the US-China economic and trade consultation mechanism, it said. US President Donald Trump on Friday announced that a new round of trade talks with China would start in London beginning today,
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