■ TAIEX closes flat
Share prices closed little changed yesterday, with many investors keeping to the sidelines ahead of a central bank decision on monetary policy, dealers said.
The TAIEX closed up 4.10 points at 6,169.08, on turnover of NT$65.61 billion (US$2.0 billion).
"Shares moved in a very narrow band and trading was thin," said Barits International Securities assistant vice president Alex Huang.
"Investors remained cautious as they waited for the central bank's announcement on monetary policy," he said, noting growing concerns over the impact on inflation of high oil prices.
■ Juniper cites security concerns
Juniper Networks Inc, a computer-networking equipment maker, said yesterday that many of the nation's small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) are increasingly adopting managed security services due to rising cyber attacks and the high costs of hiring security experts.
"There is a need arising for SMEs to outsource their information security systems to third parties nowadays," said Vince Yu (游源濱), Juniper's system engineering manager for the Hong Kong and Taiwan markets, at a press briefing yesterday.
Citing figures from the research firm Frost & Sullivan, he said that the managed security services market in Taiwan will report compound annual growth rate of 19.1 percent from last year through 2011.
This will present new opportunities to vendors as the market is in the early stage and will become more mature within the next six to 12 months, he said.
■ Motorola VP to visit
Kieran O'Sullivan, vice president of telematics, interiors and aftermarket for Motorola Inc, is set to visit Taiwan for the Oct. 10 Taipei International Automotive Electronics Summit Forum and Procurement Seminar next month, a Chinese-language newspaper report said yesterday.
O'Sullivan will be a key speaker at the seminar and will also study the possibility of setting up a research-and-development center on auto electronics in Taiwan while here, the report said.
O'Sullivan will pay visits to the Yulon Group (裕隆集團), BenQ Corp (明基) and Compal Electronics Inc (仁寶) to discuss future partnerships on auto electronics, it said.
Meanwhile, high officials from BMW will also visit Taiwan late this month to court auto electronics suppliers, the report said.
■ EVA gloomy on home market
EVA Airways Corp (長榮) is gloomy on the outlook in the domestic air cargo market and plans to form a joint venture with China's Shanghai Airlines to boost its business, Nieh Kuo-wei (聶國維), EVA Air's spokesman, said yesterday.
EVA will have a 49 percent stake in the venture and the deal is expected to be completed before the year's end, he said.
EVA Airways President Chang Kuo-wei (張國煒) told a Chinese-language newspaper that he was not optimistic about the nation's air cargo market given the persistent trend of manufacturers moving production lines from Taiwan to China.
Taiwan's air cargo business is down 30 percent so far this year while Taiwan-originated cargo carried by EVA Air is down 10 percent from a year earlier, he said.
■ NT dollar drifts lower
The New Taiwan dollar traded lower against its US counterpart, declining NT$0.057 to close at NT$32.741 on the Taipei foreign exchange market.
Turnover was US$937 million, up from US$781 million the previous day.
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