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Chunghwa delays bid award
Chunghwa Telecom Co (中華電信) delayed selecting the winner of a NT$12 billion (US$345 million) network equipment contract after legislators raised questions about the bidding process, a Chinese-language newspaper reported, citing Chunghwa chairman Mao Chi-kuo (毛治國).

Chunghwa will send a request to the intermediary in the bidding process, the Central Trust of China (中央信託局), to delay a planned announcement naming Nokia Oyj as the winner, the report said. Last week Nokia won the contract to supply network equipment allowing mobile-phone users faster Internet access.

Nortel Networks Corp, Canada's largest supplier of phone equipment, filed a complaint with Central Trust earlier this week, questioning why Chunghwa didn't accept its bid since it was NT$4 billion cheaper than Nokia's.

Sale of oil corp stock okayed
Chinese Petroleum Corp (中油) said the legislature has approved the government's plan to sell a 45.7 percent stake in the oil refiner to the public, bringing the company a step closer to privatization.

Chinese Petroleum will begin preparing for the stock sale, which has been part of the government privatization plan since 1998, the company said in a statement.

The Ministry of Economic Affairs will form an evaluation committee to set the share price, the company said. Chinese Petroleum vice president Roy Chiu (邱吉雄) said in June that the company would need about nine months of preparation for the share sale.

The company earlier said it plans to sell more than half of its shares to overseas and local investors.

`Smart' water system unveiled
Eying the potentially lucrative water market in Taiwan, the Taichung-based Global Water Co (全球水科技) yesterday unveiled what it termed a "smart" water purifying system.

The water purifying system developed by the company can provide safe, steady and dependable water, chairman Liu Shih-we (劉世煒) said at a signing ceremony with the Industrial Technology Research Institute (ITRI).

Under the agreement, the ITRI will provide round-the clock monitoring to ensure the quality of the purifying system, Liu said.

According to Global Water president Tien Yung-feng (田永峰), consumers can use a stored-value card to withdraw water from the water purification system, which looks like an automatic teller machine.

Around NT$2.5 million (US$71,430) worth of bottled and boxed waters are consumed a year in Taiwan, Tien said.

SFC cuts margin loan interest
The Securities and Futures Commission ordered securities firms to reduce interest on margin loans by 0.48 percentage point to help support stock prices, a Chinese-language newspaper reported, citing the commission.

The commission ordered the cut when it met with securities companies on Thursday to discuss interest on loans made to stock buyers, the report said. The cut reduces the rate brokerages charge to 6.95 percent a year from 7.43 percent.

NT dollar rises steadily
The NT dollar had its strongest closing level against its US counterpart in eight weeks on speculation the US Federal Reserve's bigger-than-expected interest rate cut this week will attract investors to higher-yielding assets on the island. The local unit rose NT$0.091 to close at NT$34.505 against the greenback, its highest close since Sept. 13.

Turnover was US$446 million, compared with the previous day's US$540 million.

Agencies
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