Business Briefs

■ Money supply picks up
The nation's money supply grew at a faster pace last month because lending and investment picked up and foreign funds invested more money in Taiwan, the central bank said in a statement. The M2 indicator, the broadest measure of the nation's money supply, rose 6.3 percent from a year earlier after increasing 5.6 percent in May, the central bank said yesterday in a statement in Taipei. Last month's gain was the biggest in four months. M1A, which tracks net currency in circulation plus checking accounts and passbook deposits, expanded 6.3 percent last month after increasing 6.1 percent in May, the central bank said. M1B, which excludes time deposits and foreign-currency deposits included in M2, rose 7.2 percent last month after expanding 5.9 percent the previous month.

■ Delegation joins WTO summit
A Taiwanese delegation led by Huang Chih-peng (黃志鵬), director-general of the Bureau of Foreign Trade under the Ministry of Economic Affairs, is scheduled to arrive in Geneva today to attend a meeting of the WTO General Council from tomorrow until Friday. On the sidelines of the General Council meeting, Huang and his delegation will also hold talks with officials from several other WTO member states. According to the "July Package" and relevant drafts adopted by the General Council last year, the world trade regulatory body must fix a draft formula for negotiations on agricultural and non-agricultural market (NAMA) access during the upcoming General Council meeting.

■ MediaTek gets fresh orders
MediaTek Inc (聯發科技), the world's largest maker of chips for DVD players, got orders for chips used in mobile phones from Asustek Computer Inc (華碩電腦) and Compal Communications Inc (華寶通訊), the Economic Daily News reported, without saying where it obtained the information. It's the first time MediaTek received orders from Taiwanese cellphone makers, the Taipei-based newspaper said. There's no information on the orders, according to the report. Asustek is the world's biggest maker of boards that connect the parts in personal computers. It also makes consumer electronics, including mobile phones. Compal Communications, 41.5 percent owned by Compal Electronics -- the world's second-largest maker of notebook computers, makes and develops mobile phones.

■ NT dollar falls back
The New Taiwan dollar fell for the first day in three on speculation some importers will take advantage of the currency's biggest gain in four years on July 22 to settle overseas transactions amid rising crude oil prices. Taiwan imports almost all the oil it needs, paid for in US dollars. A rising local currency reduces the cost of imports. From a year ago, oil prices are 41 percent higher. The NT dollar declined 0.3 percent to close at NT$31.754 against its US counterpart on turnover of US$780 million, according to Taipei Forex Inc. The currency on Friday climbed 0.96 percent to NT$31.648, its largest advance since May 29, 2001. "There may be demand for dollars to pay for oil because it's such a rare chance that the Taiwan dollar strengthened 1 percent," said Pory Shih, a trader at Chang Hwa Commercial Bank (彰化銀行) in Taipei. Taiwan's energy consumption rose 2.7 percent in May from a year ago to 9.07 million kiloliters (57 million barrels) of oil, Wei Juen-shen (韋潤生), a Bureau of Energy planning official, said on July 11. "Oil prices are still affecting the economic development," central bank Governor Perng Fai-nan (彭淮南) said last month.