SOUTH KOREA
Inflation eases, but still high
Inflation last month eased from the previous month, but stayed above the central bank’s target range for the ninth straight month, official figures showed yesterday. The consumer price index rose 4.3 percent last month compared with a year earlier, a marked slowdown from the 5.3 percent year-on-year increase in August, which was the largest rise in three years. However, last month’s figure still surpassed the central bank’s 2 to 4 percent target range, in a sign of continuing price pressures. Core inflation, which excludes volatile oil and food costs, rose 3.9 percent last month from a year earlier, down slightly from 4 percent in August.
MINING
Hanlong to buy Sundance
Chinese firm Hanlong Mining (漢龍礦業) yesterday announced it had reached an agreement to buy Australia’s Sundance Resources, after sweetening its offer to A$1.65 billion (US$1.57 billion). Hanlong made a A$0.50 per share bid in July to take over Perth-based Sundance, an iron ore, copper and gold miner with projects in central Africa. It said yesterday it would acquire 100 percent of Sundance shares after lifting its offer to A$0.57 cash per share. Sundance shares last traded at A$0.43.
ENERGY
Heritage acquires oil stake
British company Heritage Oil PLC has acquired a controlling interest in a Libyan company licensed to provide oil field services, including offshore and land-based drilling. Heritage yesterday said that it paid US$19.5 million for a 51 percent stake in Sahara Oil Services Holdings Ltd. Heritage said the acquisition would allow it to play a significant role in Libya’s oil and gas industry. Sahara Oil Services was established in 2009 and is based in Benghazi. Heritage says it established a base in Benghazi this year and has been dealing with senior members of the National Transitional Council. Heritage CEO Tony Buckingham said his company was now well placed to win exploration and production licenses.
PORTS
London port to open in 2013
Port operator DP World said it planned to open a long-awaited deep-sea port outside London in 2013. The Dubai-based company yesterday vowed to have the first stage of the massive terminal, known as London Gateway, up and running by the fourth quarter of 2013. DP World said it had been working on the port since early last year and would pump another US$1 billion into the project over the next three years. It didn’t say how much it has spent so far. It expects the project to generate a further 700 construction jobs and 300 port jobs in Britain in the coming months. DP World is the world’s third-largest seaport operator. It is part of Dubai’s indebted state conglomerate Dubai World.
AUTOMAKERS
US auto sales up 9.9%
US auto sales rose almost 10 percent last month, allaying concerns of a double-dip recession as major automakers forecast stronger sales through the remainder of the year. Among the Detroit automakers, General Motors’ sales rose 20 percent, while those at Ford Motor and Chrysler group were up 9 percent and 27 percent respectively. However, sales by Japanese makers Toyota Motor Corp and Honda Motor Co were down almost 18 percent and 8 percent respectively. Industrywide, auto sales rose 9.9 percent last month from a year earlier. The annualized sales rate hit 13.1 million vehicles, the strongest sales rate since April.
HSBC Holdings PLC is deepening its commitment to Taiwan as the economy emerges as one of the bank’s fastest-growing markets globally, driven by an artificial intelligence (AI) investment boom, expanding cross-border trade, and rising wealth creation. “The advantage that Taiwan has is a growth story linked to the semiconductor and broader AI industries, strong underlying corporate performance, and wealth creation,” said Surendra Rosha, HSBC’s co-chief executive for Asia and the Middle East, in an exclusive interview with the Taipei Times on June 2, during this year’s HSBC Taiwan Conference. That combination has helped HSBC cement its position as the most profitable international
The New Taiwan dollar yesterday fell sharply against the US dollar to close at its lowest level since May 22 amid a massive outflow of funds from the country because of investors panicking over global equity markets. The NT dollar ended at NT$31.580 against the US dollar, slightly lower than its close of NT$31.568 on May 22, after moving between NT$31.5 and NT$31.648 on combined turnover of US$3.062 billion on the Taipei Foreign Exchange and the Cosmos Foreign Exchange. The NT dollar received a significant hit in the morning session, slumping as much as NT$0.173 at a time when other Asian currencies
Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) is now ranked ninth among the world’s 100 most valuable companies after its market capitalization more than doubled over the past year, PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) Taiwan said in a report last month. TSMC’s market capitalization surged 101 percent year-on-year to US$1.427 trillion as of March 31, the accounting and consulting firm’s 2026 Global Top 100 Companies by Market Capitalization report said. The gain catapulted the world’s largest contract chipmaker from 12th place to ninth in the rankings, and it was the fastest-growing among the global top 10, it said. TSMC was the only Taiwanese company among the top
Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) yesterday reported record revenue of NT$416.975 billion (US$13.17 billion) for last month, putting the world’s largest contract chipmaker on track to set a record for quarterly revenue. Last month’s figure surpassed March’s record NT$415.19 billion and represented increases of 1.5 percent from April and 30.1 percent from a year earlier. For the first five months of the year, TSMC generated NT$1.96 trillion in revenue, up 30 percent year-on-year, it said in a statement. TSMC has forecast second-quarter revenue of between US$39 billion and US$40.2 billion, representing sequential growth of about 10 percent and year-on-year growth of about
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