■ TAIEX jumps higher
Share prices closed 1.16 percent higher yesterday in a sharp technical rebound led by the key electronics sector, dealers said.
They said investors welcomed a strengthening in the local currency, which eased concerns over possible fund outflows, and this was enough to support the market in the face of a fresh spike in oil prices.
The TAIEX closed up 69.76 points at 6,105.35, on turnover of NT$83.54 billion (US$2.53 billion).
Thin-film-transistor liquid crystal display panel makers rose on a report that South Korea's Samsung Electronics Co has raised its forecast for this year of global demand for television LCD panels to 22 million from the 20 million projected earlier in July.
AU Optronics Corp (友達) closed up 2.99 percent at NT$44.80 while Chi Mei Optoelectronics Corp (奇美) rose 5.03 percent at NT$37.60, Chunghwa Picture Tubes Ltd (華映) 5.11 percent at NT$9.88, and HannStar Display Corp (瀚彩) 4.8 percent at NT$7.65.
■ Nation inks deal with Kansas
The nation signed a trade deal Monday with the Kansas Beef Council to import nearly US$130 million worth of hides, mostly for leather shoes.
The deal is part of a larger US$420 million agreement under which Taiwan will import up to 6 million beef hides from the US next year and in 2007.
■ NT dollar rises
The New Taiwan dollar turned strong against its US counterpart, rising NT$0.048 to close at NT$33.048 on the Taipei foreign exchange market.
Turnover was US$748 million, down from US$828 million the previous day.
Taiwan Transport and Storage Corp (TTS, 台灣通運倉儲) yesterday unveiled its first electric tractor unit — manufactured by Volvo Trucks — in a ceremony in Taipei, and said the unit would soon be used to transport cement produced by Taiwan Cement Corp (TCC, 台灣水泥). Both TTS and TCC belong to TCC International Holdings Ltd (台泥國際集團). With the electric tractor unit, the Taipei-based cement firm would become the first in Taiwan to use electric vehicles to transport construction materials. TTS chairman Koo Kung-yi (辜公怡), Volvo Trucks vice president of sales and marketing Johan Selven, TCC president Roman Cheng (程耀輝) and Taikoo Motors Group
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
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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],”