Low tech sales cap TAIEX rally
The TAIEX ended higher yesterday, but gains were capped by selling in select electronics stocks on disappointing sales last month, dealers said.
Smartphone camera lens supplier Largan Precision Co (大立光) and metal casing producer Catcher Technology Co (可成) trended lower due to steep drops in sales, while smartphone vendor HTC Corp (宏達電) was hammered by worries over its first quarter results, they said.
However, the old economy sector stabilized the broader market amid hopes that China will continue to stimulate domestic demand, which could benefit Taiwanese companies operating in China, they said.
The weighted index closed up 17.59 points, or 0.22 percent, at 7,950.30, after moving between 7,936.86 and 7,982.39, on turnover of NT$94.49 billion (US$3.19 billion).
Starbucks plans expansion
President Starbucks Coffee Corp (統一星巴克), a joint venture in charge of the Taiwan operations of the Seattle-based coffee giant, plans to increase the number of its coffee shops in Taiwan to 300 this year.
President Starbucks president John Hsu (徐光宇) said yesterday that 285 coffee outlets have been opened around the country.
Thanks to pretax profit gains of more than 10 percent last year, the company has decided to further expand its franchise this year and would continue to open outlets in smaller cities with populations of 100,000 or less, he said.
Turkey machine tool MOU inked
The Taiwan External Trade Development Council (TAITRA, 外貿協會) signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) with the Machine Tools Industrialists and Businessmen’s Association of Turkey yesterday that is expected to strengthen bilateral economic relations.
Taiwan’s machine tool exports to Turkey totaled US$204 million last year, an increase of 2.1 percent from the previous year, according to TAITRA. That put Turkey among the top five export markets for Taiwan’s machine tool industry.
Taiwan is now Turkey’s biggest supplier of machine tools, ahead of Germany, Italy, South Korea and Japan, the Turkish machine tool association said.
Hon Hai, Letv.com partner
Hon Hai Precision Industry Co (鴻海) announced on Tuesday it will form a joint venture with Letv.com (樂視網), a Chinese Internet video Web site. Under the agreement, Hon Hai will produce Letv-branded “super televisions” and Internet TV boxes.
Letv.com chief operations officer Liu Hong (劉弘) said the strategic links would improve Letv’s TV-related products to the level of Apple Inc devices. Hon Hai internal sources said Letv’s super TVs would be 60-inch big-screen models produced by the world’s biggest contract electronics producer.
Hiring rise may aid graduates
First-time jobseekers may find it easier to get a job this year on the back of rising hiring demand, the latest report by 104 Job Bank (104人力銀行) showed yesterday.
Openings for full and part-time jobs totaled 401,000 this month, up 5.7 percent from a year earlier. Work openings for first-time jobseekers rose at a pace of 6.7 percent to 192,000 this month compared with a year ago, translating into 47.3 percent of total job openings — the highest level in six years, the report showed.
“The results indicate that the job market is relatively friendly toward first-time jobseekers this year,” 104 Job Bank marketing director Regis Chen (陳力孑) said.
However, as of the end of January there were106,000 unemployed first-time jobseekers nationwide, which could lead to fiercer competition in the job market later on, the report added.
NT dollar gains slightly
The New Taiwan dollar gained ground against the US dollar yesterday, rising NT$0.05 to close at NT$29.670.
Turnover totaled US$627 million during the trading session.
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