■ Investment rules relaxed
Premier Yu Shyi-kun yesterday announced new measures that further relax restrictions on foreign investment in a bid to speed up the internationalization of the capital market. The new measures are awaiting the approval of the Legislative Yuan. One of the new measures allows foreign investors to apply for one-day loans with local banks so that they can close deals affected by different time zones. The government will also allow capital gains made on securities transactions by foreign investors to be cashed outside of the country, Yu said. As foreign investors are currently only allowed to diversify investment risk using a short hedge, Yu yesterday said the government would soon allow the long hedge to be used by investors to protect their stock investments. "Short hedge" refers to the sale of a futures or options contract to protect against the possibility of a decline in the price of securities or commodities yet to be sold. "Long hedge" refers to the purchase of futures to hedge against the sale of cash commodities.
■ Delegation off to Europe
The Ministry of Economic Affairs is scheduled to lead a trade delegation today to visit Eastern European countries, including Hungary, Slovakia, the Czech Republic and Russia. The Czech Republic and Hungary are Taiwan's No. 1 and No. 2 trade partners in Eastern Europe, the Board of Foreign Trade said. Taiwan's trade with the Czech Republic, for instance, amounted to US$330 million last year, up 20 percent from the previous year, it added. The two countries are also the most important destinations for foreign direct investment in the region. Taiwanese companies that have invested in the Czech Republic, such as Hon Hai Precision Industry Co (鴻海精密) and Asustek Computers Co (華碩電腦), are considering pouring in more capital in order to expand their investments, the statement said. The delegation will visit Russia on the last leg of its trip. Exports to Russia totalled US$82 million in the first quarter of this year, up 20.4 percent from last year, according to government figures.
■ Acer buys back more shares
Acer Inc, whose stock has slid 18 percent this year, said it plans to spend as much as NT$600 million (US$18 million) to buy back and cancel 10 million shares. Acer, the nation's third-largest computer maker by market value, plans to spend between NT$29.10 and NT$60 per share to buy back the stock from today through to July 17, Acer said in a statement to the Taiwan Stock Exchange. Acer bought 10 million shares at an average price of NT$44.9 a share in a similar buyback plan that started last Wednesday.
■ Chinfon raises Vietnam stake
The Chinfon Cement Haiphong Co, a joint venture between Vietnam and the Chinfon Group (慶豐集團), said yesterday that its plan to invest another US$162 million to double the capacity of its factory in Vietnam has been approved by the Vietnamese government. The money will be spent to build a second cement production line in Chinfon's factory in the northern port city of Hai Phong. The factory's current line is able to turn out 1.4 million tonnes of cement a year. The funds will bring total investment by Chinfon in the company to US$450 million, a company spokesman said. Chinfon Hai Phong Cement Co holds around 11 percent of Vietnam's cement market. Five foreign-invested cement projects have been licensed in Vietnam with a total investment of US$1.55 billion, according to the Vietnamese government.
Among the rows of vibrators, rubber torsos and leather harnesses at a Chinese sex toys exhibition in Shanghai this weekend, the beginnings of an artificial intelligence (AI)-driven shift in the industry quietly pulsed. China manufactures about 70 percent of the world’s sex toys, most of it the “hardware” on display at the fair — whether that be technicolor tentacled dildos or hyper-realistic personalized silicone dolls. Yet smart toys have been rising in popularity for some time. Many major European and US brands already offer tech-enhanced products that can enable long-distance love, monitor well-being and even bring people one step closer to
Malaysia’s leader yesterday announced plans to build a massive semiconductor design park, aiming to boost the Southeast Asian nation’s role in the global chip industry. A prominent player in the semiconductor industry for decades, Malaysia accounts for an estimated 13 percent of global back-end manufacturing, according to German tech giant Bosch. Now it wants to go beyond production and emerge as a chip design powerhouse too, Malaysian Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim said. “I am pleased to announce the largest IC (integrated circuit) Design Park in Southeast Asia, that will house world-class anchor tenants and collaborate with global companies such as Arm [Holdings PLC],”
Sales in the retail, and food and beverage sectors last month continued to rise, increasing 0.7 percent and 13.6 percent respectively from a year earlier, setting record highs for the month of March, the Ministry of Economic Affairs said yesterday. Sales in the wholesale sector also grew last month by 4.6 annually, mainly due to the business opportunities for emerging applications related to artificial intelligence (AI) and high-performance computing technologies, the ministry said in a report. The ministry forecast that retail, and food and beverage sales this month would retain their growth momentum as the former would benefit from Tomb Sweeping Day
Thousands of parents in Singapore are furious after a Cordlife Group Ltd (康盛人生集團), a major operator of cord blood banks in Asia, irreparably damaged their children’s samples through improper handling, with some now pursuing legal action. The ongoing case, one of the worst to hit the largely untested industry, has renewed concerns over companies marketing themselves to anxious parents with mostly unproven assurances. This has implications across the region, given Cordlife’s operations in Hong Kong, Macau, Indonesia, the Philippines and India. The parents paid for years to have their infants’ cord blood stored, with the understanding that the stem cells they contained