■ TelecomHK drops PCCW
Richard Li's PCCW Ltd, Hong Kong's biggest phone company, will be dropped from the Hang Seng Hong Kong Large-cap Index, after its market capitalization fell more than a fifth in the first half of the year. PCCW will be replaced by Cathay Pacific Airways Ltd, Asia's sixth-largest carrier by sales, which will join the Mid-cap Index from Sept 8, index complier HSI Services Ltd said in a press release. PCCW will remain in the benchmark Hang Seng Index. The decision comes because PCCW failed to meet the required market size in a half-yearly review done by HSI Services, said general manager Vincent Kwan. PCCW had HK$22.6 billion (US$2.9 billion) market capitalization as of last Friday, 60 percent of Cathay Pacific's market value.
■ Stock markets
Tokyo requires disclosures
Tokyo Stock Exchange will require its listed companies to disclose details about their quarterly earnings results in fiscal year 2004, Nikkei English News reported, without citing anyone. The exchange is requiring listed companies to provide details of sales and other data every quarter starting this fiscal year, Nikkei said. It has decided to require the businesses to disclose more detailed items for the fiscal year ending March 31, including operating profits, pretax profits and net profits. Companies that go public on April 1 or later will have to release data under the new guidelines, although the exchange will give currently listed companies a three-year grace period before making the new requirements mandatory, the news service reported.
■ Internet
Pirates won't be named
The Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Boston College don't have to immediately identify students accused of illegally copying music over the Internet, a federal judge ruled. The ruling by US District Judge Joseph Tauro delays the Recording Industry Association of America's plan to sue individual users of file-sharing programs that distribute copyrighted music. The organization has filed more than 871 subpoenas in US District Court in Washington, seeking data from colleges and Internet-service providers about such users. Tauro issued a one-line ruling yesterday that the subpoenas weren't properly served in Massachusetts and granted the schools' motion set them aside. MIT and Boston College had said that they would comply with the subpoenas when they are filed in Massachusetts, not Washington.
■ Automobiles
Kia's workers will strike
Workers at Kia Motors Corp, South Korea's second-largest automaker by sales, plan a partial strike starting next week for more wages and shorter working hours, Yonhap News said, citing a union official it didn't identify. The plant will be idle for two hours each during the day and night shifts tomorrow and Tuesday, Yonhap said. On Wednesday and Thursday, the hours will double to four hours each, it said. Union workers will also refuse to work overtime, Yonhap said. Kia workers have proposed the introduction of a 40-hour workweek starting Sept. 1, with terms including a 5 percent increase in productivity. The strikes also seek an 11 percent wage increase and other conditions. The workers held walkouts for three days in July, causing the automaker to lose production of 5,800 units of its vehicles worth about 87 billion won (US$73 million).
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