Taipei Times
Date: Sep 27, 2016
By: Crystal Hsu / Staff reporter

About 66 percent of Taiwanese expect housing prices to decline next quarter, up 5 percentage points from a survey three months ago, as suggestions of unfavorable polices deepen caution and are likely to drag this year’s transactions down to a record low, Evertrust Rehouse Co (永慶房屋) said yesterday.

“Buying interest improved modestly last quarter after the central bank eased mortgage restrictions, but subsided again this quarter,” Evertrust general manager Yeh Ling-chi (葉凌棋) told a news conference in Taipei.

The nation’s largest broker by number of offices attributed the retreat seen in its latest survey to talk of housing tax hikes, from luxury to homes that are 15 years old or older, Yeh said.

The softening trend may persist for the rest of this year as the government appears inclined to raise holding taxes, even though it is hesitant to do so in a drastic manner, Yeh said.     [FULL  STORY]

Taiwan News
Date: 2016-09-26
By: Y.F. Low, Central News Agency

Taipei, Sept. 26 (CNA) The U.S. dollar rose against the Taiwan dollar Monday, gaining NT$0.102 to close at NT$31.432.
Turnover totaled US$740 million during the trading session.

The greenback opened at NT$31.375, and moved between NT$31.375 and NT$31.446 before the close .     [SOURCE]

INVESTORS UPDATE:A joint venture of the company’s Beijing branch and the US’ Chemtex International is building a plant to produce PTA and PET resins in Russia

Taipei Times
Date: Sep 27, 2016
By: Kuo Chia-erh / Staff reporter

CTCI Corp (中鼎工程) is expanding its oil refinery business in Russia, company spokesperson Hsiao Ming-cheng (蕭明證) told an investors’ conference in Taipei yesterday.

Revenues from Taiwan make up more than half of the total revenues of the nation’s largest construction and power engineering service provider, while sales from the Middle East and Southeast Asia account for 22 percent and 19 percent respectively.

“We see some business opportunities in the Commonwealth of Independent States and plan to enter the market by cooperating with global companies,” Hsiao said.

The company’s Beijing branch formed a joint venture with the US-based chemical company Chemtex International Inc, which last month signed an agreement to complete the basic design for a purified terephthalic acid (PTA) and polyethylene terephthalate (PET) resin plant to be built in Russia.     [FULL  STORY]

Taipei Times
Date: Sep 26, 2016
By: Kuo Chia-erh / Staff reporter

Machine tool exports might decline less than expected this year on the back of potential US orders, the Taiwan Machine Tool & Accessory Builders’ Association (TMBA, 台灣工具機暨零組件公會) said on Friday.

Outbound shipments for the whole of this year might decline by just a single-digit percentage from last year, association secretary-general Carl Huang (黃建中) said by telephone.

“A single digit decline is not that bad, as the latest statistics indicate contraction across all of Taiwan’s main markets this year,” Huang said.

With the US market expected to start recovering after the Nov. 8 US presidential election, exports from Taiwan’s machine tool industry are likely to gain support in the final quarter of this year, he said.     [FULL  STORY]

OUTSIDE HELP:Foreign institutional investors bought NT$25.93 billion worth of shares last week as they moved funds into Asia, betting on a weaker US dollar

Taipei Times
Date: Sep 26, 2016
By: Staff writer, with CNA

The stock market will likely encounter technical corrections in the near future after a strong showing over the past week thanks to aggressive foreign institutional buying, Taishin Securities Investment Trust Co (台新投信) fund manager Wei Yung-hsiang (魏永祥) said.

Selling might soon prevail because of worries over a stronger New Taiwan dollar, which could hurt exporters’ profits, especially in the high-tech sector, he said.

The TAIEX ended last week up by 382.32 points, or 4.29 percent, at 9,284.62, its highest level since May 3, when it ended at 9,294.12.

Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (台積電) led the gains, rising more than 8 percent to NT$187.50 on Friday. Its market capitalization was up NT$360 billion (US$11.5 billion) last week.     [FULL  STORY]

Taipei Times
Date: Sep 26, 2016
By: Kuo Chia-erh / Staff reporter

The rising costs of coking coal might force China Steel Corp (CSC, 中鋼) to raise domestic product prices for December contracts despite it reducing prices for October and November contracts by 1.3 percent per tonne.

“Coking coal price would definitely affect China Steel’s production costs because the material is widely used in steelmaking processes,” CSC vice president Liu Jih-gang (劉季剛) said by telephone on Thursday.

The nation’s only integrated steelmaker is to announce its price adjustments for December shipments by the end of next month.

Iron ore and coking coal are key steelmaking ingredients. While prices of iron ore have remained weak this year, coking coal has surged in the past month because of a short supply of coal due to devastating floods in China’s major production regions.     [FULL  STORY]

HEDGING ITS BETS:Chairman Tung Tzu-hsien said game consoles, tablets, notebooks and networking devices have been the main growth drivers for the company this year

Taipei Times
Date: Sep 26, 2016
By: Lauly Li / Staff reporter

Pegatron Corp (和碩) hopes that its efforts to continue diversifying its product mix and client base will expand its operational scale, chairman Tung Tzu-hsien (童子賢) said.

This strategy would also allow the company to grow without relying too heavily on a single client or a few products, Tung said on Saturday on the sidelines of Acer Inc’s (宏碁) 40th anniversary celebrations in Taipei.

The latest sales data show Pegatron no longer needs to rely solely on smartphones to maintain growth momentum, he said.     [FULL  STORY]

Focus Taiwan
Date: 2016/09/24
By: Tien Yu-pin and Frances Huang

Taipei, Sept. 24 (CNA) Taiwan’s stock market will likely encounter technical corrections in the near future after a strong showing this past week resulting from aggressive foreign institutional buying, according to fund manager Wei Yung-hsiang (魏永祥).

Wei, who manages the NT$9.8 billion (US$312 million) Taishin China Equity Fund (台新中國通基金) in Taipei, said selling may soon prevail because of worries over a stronger Taiwan dollar, which could hurt the profits of Taiwanese exporters, in particular in the high-tech sector.

In the week following Monday’s return of investors from the four-day Mid-Autumn Festival holiday, the weighted index on the Taiwan Stock Exchange rose 382.32 points, or 4.29 percent.

The market’s weighted index closed at 9,284.62, the highest level since May 3, when it ended at 9,294.12.     [FULL  STORY]