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■ Economy shows signs of growth
Taiwan's economy showed signs of growth with the index of leading indicators for January standing at 108.4 points, up 0.6 percent from December, the Council for Economic Planning and Development said yesterday.
In December, the index registered a revised 1.2 percent month-on-month decline, the council said.
The index is used as a gauge for the economy's direction in the coming three months.
The January index of coincident indicators, which coincides with the current pace of economic activity, rose 0.4 percent month-on-month to 109.2 points, after posting a revised 0.7 percent fall in December, it said.
The total score of monitoring indicators for January was 17 points, up from December's 16 points.
The January monitoring indicators showed a "yellow-blue light", which signaled a slowdown, after a "blue light" for December pointed to a recession -- the first such showing since May 2003 when the economy was hit by SARS.

■ Firms to be delisted from TSE
China Rebar Co (中國力霸) and Chia Hsin Food & Synthetic Fiver Co (嘉新食品化纖), which declared bankruptcies that led to a bank run, will be delisted from the Taiwan Stock Exchange.
The two companies' shares will be delisted on April 11, the stock exchange said on its Web site yesterday. China Rebar and Chia Hsin stocks were suspended from trading in January after the firms declared insolvency.
Their bankruptcies led to a run on the deposits of affiliate The Chinese Bank (中華銀行). At least NT$30 billion (US$912 million) was withdrawn from the lender, according to the financial regulator.

■ Production value rises
The total production value of Taiwan's semiconductor industry reached NT$1.38 trillion (US$41.92 billion) last year, up 23.2 percent from 2005, much higher than the 8.5 percent global market growth rate, the Industrial Development Bureau said yesterday.
In addition, the global market share for Taiwan-produced DRAM is expected to grow by 35 percent, up from last year's 21 percent, thanks to the "clustering effect," bureau officials predicted.
The strong market demand has provided a significant boost for Taiwanese memory chip manufacturers, IC design companies, wafer manufacturers and chip packaging and testing enterprises, the officials noted.
A number of local and foreign companies have announced plans to construct 12-inch wafer factories, boasting that Taiwan has the highest density of 12-inch wafer-producing fabs in the world, he said.

■ Furniture show opens today
The Taipei International Furniture Show starts today and runs until Wednesday at the Taipei World Trade Center under the auspices of the Taiwan External Trade Development Council (TAITRA, 外貿協會) and the Taiwan Furniture Manufacturers' Association (台灣區家具工業同業公會).
The annual trade show is expected to bring together 226 domestic and foreign furniture and related equipment manufacturers and suppliers to exhibit their products, according to the organizers.
Leading Taiwanese firms such as Aurora Corp (震旦行) and CK Chair Co (金加睦), plus international brand-name giants like US-based Herman Miller and American Hardwood, and Germany-based Grahl Working Well and Interstuhl, will take part in the exhibition, the organizers said.

■ NT dollar loses ground
The New Taiwan dollar lost ground against the US dollar on the Taipei Foreign Exchange yesterday, decreasing NT$0.008 to close at NT$32.918 on turnover of US$1.03 billion.

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