Shares edge up
Taiwanese shares edged up 0.12 percent yesterday as investors took their cue from Wall Street, which closed slightly higher on a new US rescue package for the financial industry, dealers said.
The weighted index rose 5.31 points at 4,271.8 on thin turnover of NT$44.97 billion (US$1.35 billion).
Advancers outnumbered losers 746 to 481, while 395 shares remained unchanged.
“Investors were pretty cautious as few have changed as to the weak fundaments here and abroad,” said Mars Hsu of Grand Cathay Securities (大華證券).
“After the two consecutive rallies on Wall Street, local investors also predicted a correction,” he said, speaking of another factor weighing down the sentiment.
Taiwan Fertilizer cuts prices
Taiwan Fertilizer Co (台肥), the nation’s largest fertilizer producer, agreed yesterday to lower fertilizer prices in keeping with the government’s wish to ease financial burdens on farmers.
The company, which provides 75 percent of the nation’s fertilizers, said it would lower urea prices from the current NT$9,100 to NT$8,450 per tonne starting next month. The company added that it would cut ammonium sulfate prices.
The former state-owned company raised prices for assorted fertilizers by an average of 40 percent on May 30 after raw material prices surged. The costs have fallen significantly since July.
Taiwan firms lend to Micron
Two units of Taiwan’s industrial conglomerate Formosa Plastics Group (台塑集團) have agreed to lend US$285 million to Micron Technology Inc of the US, the companies said yesterday.
Nan Ya Plastics Corp (南亞塑膠), a flagship enterprise of Formosa Plastics Group, will provide Micron with a loan of US$200 million, Nan Ya said in a filing to the Taiwan Stock Exchange late on Tuesday night.
Inotera Memories Inc (華亞科技), a joint venture between Nanya Technology Corp (南亞科技) and Germany’s Qimonda AG, said in a separate filing to the stock exchange that it would lend US$85 million to Micron.
The combined sum will be used to finance Micron’s acquisition of Qimonda’s 35.6 percent stake in Inotera, a US$400 million deal struck last month.
The US firm has said it will share its Stack dynamic random access memory (DRAM) technology with Inotera for the production of Stack DRAM products for Micron and Nanya Technology.
China lowers rates again
China’s central bank lowered its interest rate yesterday — the fourth time since mid-September — to help ease the impact of the global financial crisis and aid economic growth.
The People’s Bank of China said the benchmark rates for one-year loans and deposits will both fall by 1.08 percentage points, bringing the cost of one-year borrowing to 5.58 percent and one-year deposit rates to 2.52 percent.
The central bank also slashed the reserve requirements by 1 percentage point for the six big banks, down from 17 percent, and by 2 percentage points for smaller banks, down from 16 percent.
The move was more aggressive than predicted by analysts and comes a day after the World Bank predicted reduced economic growth for China next year.
NT dollar gains ground
The New Taiwan dollar gained ground against the US dollar on the Taipei Foreign Exchange yesterday, rising NT$0.046 to close at NT$33.306.
A total of US$997 million changed hands during the day’s trading.
Among the rows of vibrators, rubber torsos and leather harnesses at a Chinese sex toys exhibition in Shanghai this weekend, the beginnings of an artificial intelligence (AI)-driven shift in the industry quietly pulsed. China manufactures about 70 percent of the world’s sex toys, most of it the “hardware” on display at the fair — whether that be technicolor tentacled dildos or hyper-realistic personalized silicone dolls. Yet smart toys have been rising in popularity for some time. Many major European and US brands already offer tech-enhanced products that can enable long-distance love, monitor well-being and even bring people one step closer to
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Malaysia’s leader yesterday announced plans to build a massive semiconductor design park, aiming to boost the Southeast Asian nation’s role in the global chip industry. A prominent player in the semiconductor industry for decades, Malaysia accounts for an estimated 13 percent of global back-end manufacturing, according to German tech giant Bosch. Now it wants to go beyond production and emerge as a chip design powerhouse too, Malaysian Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim said. “I am pleased to announce the largest IC (integrated circuit) Design Park in Southeast Asia, that will house world-class anchor tenants and collaborate with global companies such as Arm [Holdings PLC],”
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