Shares rise on regional gains
Share prices closed up 0.79 percent yesterday, their fifth consecutive rise, following gains in regional markets, dealers said.
The TAIEX rose 62.04 points to 7,963.54 on turnover of NT$142.46 billion (US$4.42 billion).
The weighted index could challenge the key 8,000-point level today, Hua Nan Securities (華南證券) trader Stan Chang said.
“Investors are highly alert as TAEIX approaches 8,000,” he said. “As heavyweight large-cap stocks have gained for some time, funds may start to rotate to smaller stocks.”
Investment rules under review
The government will review regulations on Chinese investment and may open up more industries next month in yet another move to forge closer economic ties, Industrial Development Bureau chief Woody Duh (杜紫軍) said yesterday.
“Chinese investors want to enter sectors such as liquid-crystal displays, steel and telecommunications, and we’ll take this into consideration,” Duh said.
His comment came after a high-level cross-strait meeting in Taichung, which Taipei hopes will help attract more Chinese investors.
The government partially lifted its decades-old ban on investment by Chinese companies or individuals in June.
Under the new measures, Chinese investors are permitted to buy into 100 categories in the manufacturing, service and infrastructure sectors.
As of this month, Chinese firms had invested NT$1.19 billion in Taiwan, the Straits Exchange Foundation said.
Meanwhile, China said yesterday it would slap anti-dumping penalties on a chemical imported from Saudi Arabia and Taiwan after an investigation found the product had been priced too low.
The Commerce Ministry in Beijing said it would impose tariffs of up to 13.6 percent on imports of 1,4-Butanediol, a chemical used to make some plastics, elastic fiber and polyurethanes, as of today.
“The imported products were dumped [in China] and caused material damage to the 1,4-Butanediol industry in mainland China,” the ministry said in a statement posted on its Web site.
AmCham chairman reelected
The board of governors of the American Chamber of Commerce in Taipei (AmCham) reelected chairman Alan Eusden, president of Corning Display Technologies, yesterday to a second one-year term.
Upon the board’s approval, Eusden appointed Corning Painter of Air Products as the chamber’s standing vice chairman, George Chao (趙台生) of 3M Taiwan as vice chairman and Wang Li-shin of Johnson & Johnson Medical as its treasurer, the chamber said in a press statement.
‘Forbes’ ranks Asian cities
Forbes Asia, in its latest issue, listed Tokyo, Hong Kong and Beijing as the three most expensive Asian cities to live in, followed by Mumbai, Shanghai and Seoul.
Citing Mercer’s survey, the magazine said the monthly rental of a high-end two-bedroom apartment in Tokyo was US$4,737, followed by US$3,871 in Hong Kong, US$3,659 in Beijing, US$3,514 in Mumbai, US$2,927 in Shanghai and US$2,828 in Seoul.
Taipei was ranked the 16th-most expensive city, with a monthly rental of a high-end two-bedroom apartment at US$1,065.
But the magazine also added that property prices in Mumbai, Singapore and Taipei had seen the biggest hikes in the past year among its peers.
NT dollar gains
The New Taiwan dollar yesterday gained by NT$0.060 to close at NT$32.300 against the greenback on turnover of US$783 million.
FALLING BEHIND: Samsung shares have declined more than 20 percent this year, as the world’s largest chipmaker struggles in key markets and plays catch-up to rival SK Hynix Samsung Electronics Co is laying off workers in Southeast Asia, Australia and New Zealand as part of a plan to reduce its global headcount by thousands of jobs, sources familiar with the situation said. The layoffs could affect about 10 percent of its workforces in those markets, although the numbers for each subsidiary might vary, said one of the sources, who asked not to be named because the matter is private. Job cuts are planned for other overseas subsidiaries and could reach 10 percent in certain markets, the source said. The South Korean company has about 147,000 in staff overseas, more than half
Taipei is today suspending its US$2.5 trillion stock market as Super Typhoon Krathon approaches Taiwan with strong winds and heavy rain. The nation is not conducting securities, currency or fixed-income trading, statements from its stock and currency exchanges said. Yesterday, schools and offices were closed in several cities and counties in southern and eastern Taiwan, including in the key industrial port city of Kaohsiung. Taiwan, which started canceling flights, ship sailings and some train services earlier this week, has wind and rain advisories in place for much of the island. It regularly experiences typhoons, and in July shut offices and schools as
TECH PARTNERSHIP: The deal with Arizona-based Amkor would provide TSMC with advanced packing and test capacities, a requirement to serve US customers Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) is collaborating with Amkor Technology Inc to provide local advanced packaging and test capacities in Arizona to address customer requirements for geographical flexibility in chip manufacturing. As part of the agreement, TSMC, the world’s biggest contract chipmaker, would contract turnkey advanced packaging and test services from Amkor at their planned facility in Peoria, Arizona, a joint statement released yesterday said. TSMC would leverage these services to support its customers, particularly those using TSMC’s advanced wafer fabrication facilities in Phoenix, Arizona, it said. The companies would jointly define the specific packaging technologies, such as TSMC’s Integrated
An Indian factory producing iPhone components resumed work yesterday after a fire that halted production — the third blaze to disrupt Apple Inc’s local supply chain since the start of last year. Local industrial behemoth Tata Group’s plant in Tamil Nadu, which was shut down by the unexplained fire on Saturday, is a key linchpin of Apple’s nascent supply chain in the country. A spokesperson for subsidiary Tata Electronics Pvt yesterday said that the company would restart work in “many areas of the facility today.” “We’ve been working diligently since Saturday to support our team and to identify the cause of the fire,”
RSS