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First gain of the New Year

Taiwan shares rose 0.45 percent yesterday, led by gains in the banking and cement sectors.

The Weighted Price Index of the Taiwan Stock Exchange climbed 36.9 points to close at 8,221.10.

It had lost a combined 3.8 percent in the first two sessions of the year.

Michael Lin of Fubon Securities (富邦證券) said the market might also have been boosted by "buying in financial and asset-rich stocks from government funds" ahead of legislative elections next Saturday.

Cathay Financial Holdings (國泰金控) jumped 4.7 percent to NT$68.50.

Taiwan Cement (台泥) gained 4 percent to NT$46.60.

Centro vulnerable to rates

Centro Properties Group, the Australian owner of US malls that put itself up for sale, said it failed to extend interest rate hedges on its debt.

Changes to interest rates may cut earnings because Centro was unable to continue the hedges it had on about half of borrowings made in Australian dollars and in US dollars, the Melbourne-based company said in a statement on Thursday.

"This has increased Centro's exposure to interest rate movements and could translate into volatility in Centro's earnings if interest rates rise or fall significantly," the statement said.

Centro, which owns 700 US malls, invited buyers for the company or its assets after its market value plunged A$4.1 billion (US$3.6 billion) over two days last month.

The company was the worst casualty in Asia of the global credit squeeze.

Centro shares closed 14.7 percent higher at A$1.29 in Sydney before the statement. Centro Retail Group, the listed property trust it manages, rose 2.6 percent to A$0.98.

Goldman lifts S Korea forecast

Goldman Sachs Group Inc raised its South Korean 2008 economic growth forecast to 5.1 percent, citing increasing exports and stable consumer spending.

Goldman boosted the estimate from 4.8 percent, and also expects the Bank of Korea to decrease its benchmark interest rate by a half percentage point this year.

"`External factors, notably the US slowdown, rising import prices and unstable global financial markets, will likely continue to cloud Korea's economic outlook in coming months," Goldman's Seoul-based economist Kwon Goohoon wrote in a report.

"However, we believe that Korea's cyclical upturn since the second quarter of 2007 will likely be sustained, albeit briefly moderating in the first half of 2008," the report said.

Alien-killers boost Xbox sales

Microsoft Corp, the world's largest software maker, said it has sold more than 17.7 million Xbox 360 consoles since their debut in 2005, helped by demand for the alien-shooting game Halo 3.

The company, based in Redmond, Washington, sold 8.1 million copies of Halo 3 since the game's Sept. 25 release, making it the top seller among Xbox 360 game titles, Brenda Hsieh, a Taipei-based spokeswoman for Microsoft, said in an e-mail on Thursday.

Microsoft began selling the Xbox 360 console in November 2005, almost a year ahead of Nintendo Co's Wii and Sony Corp's PlayStation 3. Sony said in October it may miss its earlier target to sell 11 million PlayStation 3 units in the year ending March, while Nintendo said last month it expects to ship 17.5 million Wii machines in the same fiscal period.

NT dollar drops slightly The New Taiwan dollar yesterday fell by NT$0.008 to NT$32.439 against the greenback on turnover of US$764 million.