■ Investment
Foreign investment falls
Approved expatriate and foreign investment in Taiwan totaled US$577 million last month, down 87.3 percent from the same month last year, the Investment Commission said on Friday. Commission officials attributed the decrease mostly to the high comparison base for January last year. Meanwhile, the commission approved 28 outbound investment projects last month worth a total of US$193.8 billion, up 246 percent from a year ago. For investment in China, the commission approved 105 investment projects worth US$809.81 million, up 47 percent from the same period last year.
■ Oil
Prices fall over Nigeria
Oil prices fell yesterday amid news of the release of an American oil worker kidnapped in Nigeria. Worries of escalating unrest in Africa's largest crude producer had pushed oil futures up more than US$1 a barrel on Friday. Light, sweet crude for March delivery lost US$0.28 to US$59.13 a barrel in Asian electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange mid-afternoon in Singapore. April Nymex crude dropped US$0.07 to US$59.79 a barrel. April Brent crude oil futures on London's ICE futures exchange lost US$0.04 at US$58.91 a barrel. Trading was quiet across Asia due to the Lunar New Year holiday.
■ Stocks
Japanese bourse upbeat
Japanese share prices closed up 0.36 percent yesterday at a new near-seven-year high as market sentiment remained upbeat despite jitters over a possible interest rate rise, dealers said. The Tokyo Stock Exchange's NIKKEI-225 index of leading shares gained 64.44 points to 17,940.09, the best finish since May 8, 2000. The broader TOPIX index of all first-section companies added 5.43 points or 0.31 percent to 1,779.96. Financial markets were closed yesterday in Taiwan, China, Hong Kong, South Korea and Malaysia for the Lunar New Year. Markets in Hong Kong and Malaysia will reopen tomorrow, while markets in Taiwan and China will reopen next Monday.
■ Tenders
Ethnic deals anger Malaysia
Malaysia may withdraw government projects awarded to ethnic Malay contractors who pass them on to other "races," state Bernama news agency reported late on Sunday. Deputy Finance Minister Awang Adek Hussin added they may also blacklist contractors from winning any future contracts as part of an effort to stop some Malays from abusing government projects awarded to them under positive discrimination policies. Malaysia's economically disadvantaged bumiputra -- ethnic Malays and indigenous groups -- are favored under government policies to boost their economic development.
■ Aviation
JetBlue cancels flights
JetBlue called off almost a quarter of its flights for yesterday but hoped that this would be the last round of cancelations as it struggles to recover from the snowstorm that saw some travelers sitting on grounded planes for hours. JetBlue canceled 139 of its 600 flights. Because yesterday was a US federal holiday, Presidents' Day, the airline had scheduled more than its usual 550 to 575 flights to accommodate people who took advantage of the long weekend to travel. The cancelations were needed to ensure flight crews had had the legally mandated amount of rest.
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