TAIEX closes higher
Taiwan share prices closed 0.46 percent higher yesterday although gains were capped by profit-taking after recent rallies, dealers said. The TAIEX index closed up 31.98 points at 6,985.32 on turnover of NT$145.15 billion (US$4.53 billion). Risers led decliners 1,282 to 960, with 226 stocks unchanged. The index reached a psychological resistance level of 7,000 points on gains led by financial stocks in early trade but was pulled back by profit-taking, dealers said. “The trading volume was not sufficient enough to push the index past 7,000 points. It would require at least NT$200 billion” to achieve this end, said Alex Huang (黃國偉) of Mega International Investment Services (兆豐國際投顧).
Banks to re-buy minibonds
Fubon Bank (Hong Kong) (富邦香港) said yesterday it and 15 other banks in Hong Kong have agreed to repurchase the so-called minibonds sold by the defunct Lehman Brothers from investors. Fubon Bank (Hong Kong), a subsidiary of Fubon Financial Holding Co (富邦金控) of Taiwan, said in a statement that it would pay 60 percent in face value of the bonds to investors to buy back the Lehman products. The lender said it estimated the buyback would cost it HK$313 million (US$40 million) but stressed no concern for capital shortage. The 16 banks’ repurchase move came after they reached an agreement with Hong Kong’s Securities and Futures Commission and Hong Kong Monetary Authority to compensate minibond buyers. Lehman’s bankruptcy last year caused the value of the minibonds to collapse, with many of these investors being elderly and poorly educated people.
China Steel may post profit
China Steel Corp (中鋼), the nation’s largest steel mill, said it may post a third-quarter operating profit as demand from automakers and appliance makers improves. The company may raise prices for September, Executive Vice President Chung Le-min (鍾樂民) said yesterday in an interview. Customers are placing more orders on expectation prices will increase as the global economy may have bottomed, he said. China Steel joins rivals including South Korea’s Posco and China’s Baosteel Group Corp. in indicating the worst may be over for global steel demand. On Tuesday, the company said it had a pretax profit of NT$774 million ($24 million) for the second quarter, after reported losses for the six months to March. “Demand has improved from industries such as automakers,” Chung said. Lower material costs are also helping, he said.
Work to start for next month
Construction of the Taiwan pavilion at the Shanghai World Expo 2010 will begin in the middle of next month, the semi-official Taiwan External Trade Development Council (TAITRA, 外貿協會) announced on Tuesday. TAITRA Secretary-General Chao Yung-chuan (趙永全), in his capacity as general manager of the Taipei World Trade Center, signed the contract a day earlier in Shanghai with Hung Hao (洪浩), chief of the Shanghai World Expo Bureau. According to the Shanghai World Expo Bureau, 240 countries have decided to take part in the event that will run from May 1 to Oct. 31 next year. Some participating countries have already started construction of their pavilions.
NT dollar loses ground
The New Taiwan dollar lost ground against the US dollar on the Taipei Foreign Exchange yesterday, declining NT$0.076 to close at NT$32.875. Turnover was US$604 million.
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
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],”
Sales in the retail, and food and beverage sectors last month continued to rise, increasing 0.7 percent and 13.6 percent respectively from a year earlier, setting record highs for the month of March, the Ministry of Economic Affairs said yesterday. Sales in the wholesale sector also grew last month by 4.6 annually, mainly due to the business opportunities for emerging applications related to artificial intelligence (AI) and high-performance computing technologies, the ministry said in a report. The ministry forecast that retail, and food and beverage sales this month would retain their growth momentum as the former would benefit from Tomb Sweeping Day
Thousands of parents in Singapore are furious after a Cordlife Group Ltd (康盛人生集團), a major operator of cord blood banks in Asia, irreparably damaged their children’s samples through improper handling, with some now pursuing legal action. The ongoing case, one of the worst to hit the largely untested industry, has renewed concerns over companies marketing themselves to anxious parents with mostly unproven assurances. This has implications across the region, given Cordlife’s operations in Hong Kong, Macau, Indonesia, the Philippines and India. The parents paid for years to have their infants’ cord blood stored, with the understanding that the stem cells they contained