■ Relief sends stocks up
Share prices closed 0.55 percent higher yesterday on a technical rebound supported by Wall Street's overnight gains which offset domestic political concerns over moves to oust President Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁), dealers said.
The weighted index rose 35.15 points at 6,479.91, after trading narrowly between 6,460.67 and 6,500.89, on turnover of NT$51.83 billion (US$1.58 billion).
President Securities Corp (統一證券) manager Johnny Lee attributed yesterday's recovery to a technical rebound spurred by a firmer Wall Street and lower oil prices.
"The announcement on the date to kick off the sit-in protest allowed investors to take a breather, as there will be no major protests" until early next month, he said.
■ Trade with China up 15%
Trade between Taiwan and China for the first six months of the year rose 15 percent from a year earlier to US$41 billion, the Board of Foreign Trade said yesterday.
The figure accounted for 20.1 percent of the nation's total external trade during the period, compared with 19.4 percent a year earlier, it said, citing statistics compiled by Taiwan and Hong Kong, where most of the goods are transshipped.
For the January-June period, Taiwan registered a trade surplus with China of US$18.11 billion, up 10.5 percent as exports rose 13.6 percent to US$29.56 billion and imports were up 18.9 percent at US$11.45 billion.
■ China Steel profits halved
China Steel Corp (中鋼), the nation's largest steelmaker, had a 58 percent decline in first-half profits after prices of the metal dropped.
Net income totaled NT$13.9 billion, the Kaohsiung-based company said in an e-mail statement yesterday. That compared with NT$32.8 billion a year earlier, according to Taiwan Stock Exchange data. Sales fell 19 percent to NT$80 billion, according to monthly filings.
■ Central bank denies liquidity
The central bank said it had "appropriate control" over its currency reserves, denying speculation that it had excessive liquidity.
"The central bank has appropriate control over liquidity," the central bank said in a statement yesterday. "Reports saying Taiwan has huge excess reserves are groundless." Excess reserves in the past seven months averaged NT$6 billion, the statement said. Money supply growth was "moderate" and averaged 6.51 percent in the same period, it said.
■ Bonus shares now an expense
Starting from Jan. 1, 2008, listed companies will be required to account for bonus shares given to employees as compensation as an expense in their financial books, the Financial Supervisory Commission said.
The new accounting rule is designed to better conform to international accounting standards and practice.
The closing share price one day prior to the annual general meeting is used as the benchmark price of bonus shares given to employees, according to the new rule.
Meanwhile, the price of stock options given to staff shall not be lower than the closing share price on the transfer day.
If a firm distributes its buyback shares to employees as compensation, the price tag cannot be less than the average buyback cost per share, the commission said.
However, exceptions can be made to the regulatory floor price when using stock options or buyback shares as compensation to employees, as long as the shareholders meeting approves, it said.
■ NT dollar rises
The New Taiwan dollar gained on the US dollar on the Taipei Foreign Exchange yesterday, advancing NT$0.038 to close at NT$32.880 on turnover of US$656 million.
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