■ Buy local stocks, says analyst
Investors should favor stocks in Taiwan and Malaysia, where share prices have undervalued earnings prospects, compared with markets such as India, according to Deutsche Bank AG's Mark Jolley.
Banking stocks in Taiwan and Malaysia are worth holding because of their potential for profit growth, said Jolley, Deutsche Bank's Hong Kong-based chief Asian strategist, in an interview on Monday.
Taiwan's TAIEX and the Kuala Lumpur Composite Index were Asia's worst-performing stock benchmarks after China's during a regional rally in the past three years, with both posting gains of 35 percent.
Markets such as Taiwan and Malaysia "will all of a sudden come into their own" when investors realize the value they offer, Jolley said.
■ Second satellite considered
Chunghwa Telecom Co (中華電信), the nation's biggest telecom service provider, said yesterday it is studying the feasibility of teaming up with Singapore Telecommunica-tions again to launch a second satellite for commercial applications.
"We are making an assessment as whether to join forces with Singapore Telecom on a second satellite," a Chunghwa Telecom official said.
In 1998, the two companies launched a satellite involving an investment of US$120 million each.
■ S&P touts Asian real estate
Standard & Poor's Ratings Services said yesterday that real estate markets in Asia are set for another busy year as investors continue to target the region on the back of solid economic growth.
In the report, entitled Asia Property: Risks And Rewards, S&P said Asia's real estate markets are changing significantly due to the emergence of real estate investment trusts (REITs), growing urbanization, the increasing presence of foreign institutional investors and the opening-up of the real estate sector in China.
Asia may be home to half the world's population but its real estate per capita is still among the lowest in the world, S&P said.
"While long-term fundamentals look encouraging, with plenty of development opportunities to meet rising demand, there is inherent volatility and structural deficiencies in this sector," said John Bailey, S&P's head of corporate ratings in Asia.
"Conditions can be extremely cyclical, with political risk, evolving market practices, and a danger of speculative excess in some markets," he said.
■ Philips to lower chip stake
Royal Philips Electronics NV, Europe's largest maker of consumer electronics, aims to lower its stake in the semiconductor division to a minority in the second half of the year and has started preparing for a stock listing of the unit.
Philips intends to reduce its holding in the division, Europe's third-largest chipmaker, through an initial public offering of the division or by selling shares to financial investors, the company said yesterday in a statement.
Philips said it may pursue a combination of selling shares in the unit and to financial investors. The company had sales of 30.4 billion euros (US$38.4 billion) last year, of which 4.62 billion euros came from the semiconductor unit.
"Strategic partners is an option we don't exclude down the road, however an IPO or a sale of shares to financial investors is a route we have decided to prioritize," spokesman Jayson Otke said.
■ NT dollar weakens
The New Taiwan dollar turned weak against its US counterpart yesterday, declining NT$0.029 to close at NT$32.625 on the Taipei foreign exchange market.
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