Central bank reins in NT dollar
The New Taiwan dollar was little changed after retreating from a 13-year high on suspected intervention by the central bank yesterday.
The currency was 0.9 percent stronger a minute before the 4pm close, before the monetary authority entered the market, traders said.
A government report showed yesterday that GDP rose 6.48 percent in the final three months of last year from a year earlier, after an increase of 9.8 percent the previous quarter.
“A strong economy will drive gains in the [New] Taiwan dollar,” said Frances Cheung, a senior strategist at Credit Agricole CIB in Hong Kong. “The currency will, in the near term, continue to be resilient.”
The NT dollar closed 0.1 percent weaker at NT$29.300 against its US counterpart, according to Taipei Forex Inc. The currency has appreciated 3.6 percent this year, after gaining 5.5 percent last year.
China Life purchase approved
Life insurer China Life Insurance Co (中國人壽) has received approval from the Ministry of Economic Affairs’ Investment Commission to acquire a 19.9 percent stake in Shanghai-based Pacific Antai Life Insurance Co (太平洋安泰人壽), the insurer said in a stock exchange statement yesterday.
China Life plans to pay China Pacific Insurance Co (中國太平洋保險) US$61 million for the stake, the statement said.
Lite-On plan gets green light
Electronics maker Lite-On Technology Corp (光寶科技) has gained approval from the Ministry of Economic Affairs’ Investment Commission to invest US$50 million in China’s real-estate market, the commission said on Friday.
It is the largest China-bound property market investment approved by the government since February last year, when the government lifted a ban on such investments, the commission said in a statement.
According to the commission, Lite-On is planning to set up a subsidiary in Changzhou, Jiangsu Province, to handle the company’s entry into the Chinese property market.
In addition, contact notebook maker Compal Electronics Inc (仁寶電腦) has secured approval to invest US$100 million in China, while Chinatrust Commercial Bank (中國信託商銀) has received approval to spend US$120 million to set up its first branch in Shanghai, the statement said.
Ministry eyes NT$45bn target
Taiwan is aiming to “lure back” NT$45 billion (US$1.5 billion) in investments from Taiwanese businesses based overseas, higher than the NT$40.9 billion last year, through incentives and other measures, the Ministry of Economic Affairs said in a statement on its Web site yesterday.
Green Energy to boost capacity
Green Energy Technology Inc (綠能科技) plans to boost its capacity to 1.5 gigawatts by the end of the second quarter, from 1 gigawatt last year, the Taipei-based solar panel component maker said in a stock exchange statement yesterday.
China’s surplus surges 25%
China’s current account surplus surged 25 percent last year, official data showed yesterday, marking a strong rebound in demand for Chinese-made products following the global financial crisis.
The current account surplus reached US$306.2 billion last year, the State Administration for Foreign Exchange said on its Web site.
In 2009, the country’s current account surplus fell 35 percent to US$284.1 billion. That figure has been revised, an official was quoted by Dow Jones Newswires as saying, explaining the 25 percent year-on-year rise.
In the fourth quarter, the current account surplus rose 13 percent from the previous year to US$102.2 billion, almost unchanged from the third quarter, the figures showed.
CPC to repair naphtha cracker
State-run CPC Corp, Taiwan (CPC, 台灣中油) said it is planning to shut its No. 3 naphtha cracker for 38 days starting on March 30 for maintenance.
The company has also tentatively scheduled shutting its No. 5 naphtha cracker in September or October for about 40 days for regular repairs, CPC vice president Paul Chen (陳綠蔚) said yesterday.
The company plans to reduce ethylene supply to customers to 80 percent of contractual volumes during the stoppage of the No. 3 naphtha cracker, Chen said.
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