■INVESTMENT
FSC unveils exposure
Financial Supervisory Commission (FSC) said yesterday that Taiwanese financial institutions had a combined NT$33.78 billion in investment linked to government agencies and companies in Greece, Spain and Portugal, amid default fears about these countries. Of that total, domestic insurers held the largest exposure at NT$19.52 billion, followed by NT$10.6 billion by banks and NT$3.66 billion by investment trust companies, the commission said in a statement. By countries, Spain obtained the largest investment from Taiwanese financial institutions at NT$29.1 billion. It was followed by Greece at NT$3.38 billion and NT$1.3 billion for Portugal, the commission said.
■BOURSE
TAIEX closes flat
Taiwanese shares closed flat yesterday on continuing concerns over debt problems in Europe, dealers said. The TAIEX index fell 4.96 points or 0.07 percent to 7,212.87 on turnover of NT$80.96 billion (US$2.53 billion). The market opened yesterday for a special session to make up for the Lunar New Year holidays.
■FOREX
NT dollar gains strength
The New Taiwan dollar traded near the strongest level in three weeks, closing up NT$0.003 to NT$32.184 against the US dollar, Taipei Forex Inc said. “The bias for [the] Taiwan dollar to strengthen hasn’t changed,” said Tommy Huang, a fixed-income securities trader at Taiwan International Securities Corp (金鼎證券).
■INVESTMENT
Fubon invests in Spain
Fubon Life Insurance Co (富邦人壽) invested 270 million euro (US$369 million) in Spanish government bonds, its parent Fubon Financial Holding Co (富邦金控) said in a statement to the Taiwan Stock Exchange yesterday. China Life Insurance Co (中國人壽) holds 5 million euros of Spanish government bonds, the Taipei-based company said in a filing to the stock exchange. Mega Financial Holding Co (兆豐金控), meanwhile, said its banking unit has NT$1.22 billion exposure to Spanish, Greek and Portuguese bonds.
■ELECTRONICS
Innolux accelerates tie-up
Innolux Display Corp (群創光電) brought forward the date of a planned merger with Chi Mei Optoelectronics Corp (奇美電子) and TPO Displays Corp (統寶光電) to March 18 from April 1, Innolux said in an exchange filing Saturday. The companies said in late January they expected the merger to complete on Apr. 1.
■ELECTRONICS
Samsung invests in Slovakia
South Korean giant Samsung Electronics said on Friday it would invest 100 million euros in its plant in Galanta, western Slovakia in the years to come. “We plan to boost the production of LED [light-emitting diode] TV screens and start producing 3D TV screens in 2010,” the company said in a press release. By the end of October, Samsung will add 200 new jobs to the current 3,000 and retrain some 700 employees for the new production, it said.
■AUTOMOBILES
Prius accidents confirmed
The Japanese government has confirmed five new accidents involving Toyota Motor’s Prius hybrids and will urge the troubled car giant to investigate the cases, a newspaper reported yesterday. The transport ministry has received some 80 complaints this month about malfunctions in the brake system of the latest model of the flagship Prius, the Tokyo Shimbun reported without quoting sources.
With an approval rating of just two percent, Peruvian President Dina Boluarte might be the world’s most unpopular leader, according to pollsters. Protests greeted her rise to power 29 months ago, and have marked her entire term — joined by assorted scandals, investigations, controversies and a surge in gang violence. The 63-year-old is the target of a dozen probes, including for her alleged failure to declare gifts of luxury jewels and watches, a scandal inevitably dubbed “Rolexgate.” She is also under the microscope for a two-week undeclared absence for nose surgery — which she insists was medical, not cosmetic — and is
GROWING CONCERN: Some senior Trump administration officials opposed the UAE expansion over fears that another TSMC project could jeopardize its US investment Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) is evaluating building an advanced production facility in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and has discussed the possibility with officials in US President Donald Trump’s administration, people familiar with the matter said, in a potentially major bet on the Middle East that would only come to fruition with Washington’s approval. The company has had multiple meetings in the past few months with US Special Envoy to the Middle East Steve Witkoff and officials from MGX, an influential investment vehicle overseen by the UAE president’s brother, the people said. The conversations are a continuation of talks that
CAUTIOUS RECOVERY: While the manufacturing sector returned to growth amid the US-China trade truce, firms remain wary as uncertainty clouds the outlook, the CIER said The local manufacturing sector returned to expansion last month, as the official purchasing managers’ index (PMI) rose 2.1 points to 51.0, driven by a temporary easing in US-China trade tensions, the Chung-Hua Institution for Economic Research (CIER, 中華經濟研究院) said yesterday. The PMI gauges the health of the manufacturing industry, with readings above 50 indicating expansion and those below 50 signaling contraction. “Firms are not as pessimistic as they were in April, but they remain far from optimistic,” CIER president Lien Hsien-ming (連賢明) said at a news conference. The full impact of US tariff decisions is unlikely to become clear until later this month
Nintendo Co hopes to match the runaway success of the Switch when its leveled-up new console hits shelves on Thursday, with strong early sales expected despite the gadget’s high price. Featuring a bigger screen and more processing power, the Switch 2 is an upgrade to its predecessor, which has sold 152 million units since launching in 2017 — making it the third-best-selling video game console of all time. However, despite buzz among fans and robust demand for pre-orders, headwinds for Nintendo include uncertainty over US trade tariffs and whether enough people are willing to shell out. The Switch 2 “is priced relatively high”
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