Print

Mail

wiki links

Business Briefs

Shares close higher

Shares closed 0.49 percent higher yesterday, extending the market's advance through a fifth consecutive session as further liquidity inflow sustained investor interest, dealers said.

The TAIEX closed up 40.58 points at 8,355.26, on turnover of NT$122.88 billion (US$3.72 billion).

On the foreign exchange market, the NT dollar declined NT$0.011 to close at NT$33.032. Turnover was US$686 million on the Taipei Forex Inc.

Export growth slows

Exports last month reached US$19.58 billion, up by 3.5 percent from a year earlier, the lowest growth rate since July 2005 -- except for February which recorded fewer working days -- the Ministry of Finance said yesterday.

Imports declined 0.1 percent year-on-year to total US$18.19 billion on dramatic import cuts of 40.2 percent from Africa and decreases of over 11 percent from ASEAN nations and the Middle East, the ministry said.

Still, last month's imports were the third highest in history.

As a result, the trade surplus last month reached US$1.39 billion, up by 95.9 percent from the same period last year. It was the 15th consecutive month that the nation recorded strong overseas trade, said Lee Li-shu (李麗雪), director of the statistics department.

For the first five months of the year, the trade surplus stood at US$9.13 billion, up 39.8 percent from the same period a year earlier.

Skype Pro on the market

PChome-Skype, an Internet telephony service operated by Internet portal PC Home Online (網路家庭) in Taiwan, yesterday introduced "Skype Pro" -- a service that allows users to make local calls in 28 countries at 0.039 euros, or about NT$1.16, per call.

Countries and territories in which the service is available include Taiwan, Hong Kong, Singapore and most countries in Europe, the company said in a statement.

Users of Skype Pro are required to pay a monthly fee of NT$99 to make local calls at the advertised rate -- regardless of duration.

Currently, there are about 6 million users of PChome-Skype and 550,000 of them are paid users. Together with subscriptions from 1,000 enterprise users, the service generates NT$350 million for the company per year, it said.

`twA-1' ratings refined

Taiwan Ratings Corp (中華信評) said it has refined its short-term credit rating scale by dividing its `twA-1' short-term rating category into `twA-1+' and `twA-1' notches to reflect a deeper market.

The change has resulted in the upward revision of the ratings on a total of 64 companies, the ratings agency said yesterday. Yet the upward adjustment does not represent improvement in credit quality.

Up to 41 companies that were previously rated `twA-1' moved one notch up to `twA-1+,' including Bank of Taiwan (臺灣銀行), Cathay Financial Holding Co (國泰金控), Chinatrust Financial Holding Co (中信金控), China Steel Corp (中鋼) and Chunghwa Telecom Co (中華電信).

The other 23 rated firms climbed to `twA-1' from `twA-2.' Companies with a strong capability to meet financial commitments on obligation are rated `twA-1,' while `twA-2' suggests satisfactory capability in this regard, according to the ratings firm.

`Matchmaking' event planned

A business "matchmaking" event will take place in Taipei on July 12 and 13 to boost trade relations between Taiwanese and German companies from the federal state of Baden-Wurttemberg, a German Trade Office spokesman said yesterday.

German companies will attend the event to identify Taiwanese business partners.


This story has been viewed 1091 times.