■ Stocks close lower
Shares closed 0.15 percent lower yesterday as investors awaited clues on US interest rate trends from the US Federal Reserve, dealers said.
The TAIEX closed down 11.88 points at 7,739.91 on turnover of NT$76.88 billion (US$2.33 billion).
Decliners outnumbered gainers 816 to 374 with 194 stocks unchanged.
■ CPC to raise fuel prices
State-run Chinese Petroleum Corp (CPC, 中油) announced yesterday it would raise wholesale gasoline prices by NT$0.6 per liter and wholesale diesel prices by NT$0.7 per liter. The new rates went into effect at midnight last night.
The adjusted retail price for 98-octane unleaded gasoline is NT$27.2; 95-octane unleaded gasoline is NT$25.7, 92-octane unleaded gasoline is NT$25 and top-grade diesel is NT$21.8 per liter, CPC said in a statement released yesterday.
An hour after CPC's announcement, rival Formosa Petrochemical Corp (台塑石化) said it would lower its prices to match CPC's effective at 2am today.
■ Chunghwa signs agreement
Chunghwa Telecom Co (中華電信), the nation's largest phone operator, signed an agreement yesterday with Ruentex Development Co (潤泰創新國際) to develop a residential project by 2012 to generate a source of income other than its phone business.
Under the agreement, a 26-story residential complex including 176 apartments and 500 parking spaces will be built on a 7,692m2 parcel of land owned by Chunghwa Telecom.
Ruentex will fund the construction, the phone operator said in a statement on Thursday.
Chunghwa Telecom also said it appointed Joseph Shieh (謝劍平) as chief financial officer yesterday to replace Hank Wang (王漢朝), who will stay with the company as a senior vice president.
Shieh will also hold the title of senior vice president, the company said in a statement. He was formerly an executive vice president of Mega Financial Holding Co (兆豐金控), the nation's second-largest financial group.
■ Cross-strait trade rises
Bilateral trade between Taiwan and China in the 11 months to November rose 15.8 percent from a year earlier to US$80.40 billion, the Board of Foreign Trade said yesterday.
The figure accounted for 20.6 percent of the nation's total external trade during the period, up from 19.9 percent previously, it said, citing statistics compiled by customs offices in Taiwan and Hong Kong.
For the period from January to November last year, Taiwan registered a trade surplus with China of US$35.08 billion, up 7.1 percent. Exports rose 13 percent to US$57.74 billion while imports rose 23.7 percent at US$22.66 billion.
Shipments to China during the period accounted for 28.2 percent of Taiwan's total exports compared to 28.3 percent a year earlier, the board said.
■ BenQ plant to lay off workers
One of the three plants operated by cellphone manufacturer BenQ Mobile was set to send home its last factory workers yesterday after efforts to find a new entrepreneur failed.
Despite last year's insolvency, the site at Kamp-Lintfort in western Germany had kept on 165 employees to meet remaining orders for mobile phones.
Administrative staff in charge of winding up the operation will continue working for several more weeks.
■ NT dollar loses ground
The New Taiwan dollar lost ground against its US counterpart yesterday, declining NT$0.003 to close at NT$32.973 on the Taipei Forex Inc.
Turnover was US$680 million.
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