Current-account surplus narrows
The current-account surplus was little changed in the fourth quarter as exports surged to a record high.The surplus, the broadest measure of the flow of goods and services, narrowed 1.6 percent from a year earlier in the fourth quarter to US$7.8 billion, the central bank said in a statement.The surplus reached an all-time high of US$7.9 billion in the final quarter of last year. The surplus on the financial account, which measures investment flows, turned to an inflow of US$4.5 billion from an outflow of US$4.2 billion.
China investment rising
Taiwanese companies increased their investment in China 10.2 percent last month as companies expanded factories there, the Ministry of Economic Affairs' Investment Commission said on its Web site. Approved investment by Taiwanese companies increased to US$502 million from US$455 million the same month a year earlier, the commission said. Investment by Taiwanese companies in China increased to US$4.59 billion last year from US$3.86 billion in 2002, the commission said earlier.
Formosa Plastics aims higher
Formosa Plastics Corp (台塑) said it expects profit and sales to be higher this year on demand for the chemicals that are used to make plastic bottles, pipes and other goods. "The plastics and petrochemicals industry this year will be quite good," senior vice president Huang Tsung-jin (黃宗敬) said in Taipei. The company will give its specific forecast after its board of directors' meeting on Wednesday, Huang said. Formosa Plastics' net income for last year rose 54 percent to NT$15.2 billion from a year earlier, according to the company's unaudited figures last month, helped by a gain from the sale of shares in an oil-refining unit and a recovery in plastics chemicals demand. Sales rose to NT$84.5 billion from NT$65.7 billion.
Far EasTone to issue new shares
Far EasTone Telecommunications Co (遠傳電信), the nation's third-largest mobile phone operator, said its board agreed to issue NT$20.8 billion worth of new shares to buy smaller rival KG Telecommunications Co (和信電訊). Far EasTone will issue 693.5 million shares, the company said in a statement to the Taiwan Stock Exchange Corp. The stock closed yesterday at NT$30. The company announced last October that it had agreed to buy KG Telecommunications for NT$29.8 billion. It said it would offer KG Telecommunications shareholders about 806 million shares, worth NT$18.1 billion at the closing price on Oct. 7, and NT$11.7 billion in cash.
Bank takeover planned
King's Town Construction Co (京城建設) chairman Tsai Tien-tsan (蔡天贊) said he has bought more than 10 percent of Tainan Business Bank (台南企銀) and plans to take over the lender, a Chinese-language newspaper reported, citing Tsai. Tsai wants to complete the acquisition this year, as his takeover plan is supported by some of the bank's major investors, the newspaper reported. The bank is scheduled to elect a new board next year, the report added.
NT dollar slides
The New Taiwan dollar closed down NT$0.041 at NT$33.220 against the US dollar yesterday on the Taipei foreign exchange market, down from a high of NT$33.10 on Wednesday. The currency has appreciated nearly five percent since the beginning of the year. Turnover yesterday was US$792 million.
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