TAIEX retreats on euro debt
The stock market opened higher yesterday, but gave up its early gains as doubts resurfaced over the European debt situation, dealers said.
The benchmark index closed down 22.86 points, or 0.32 percent, at 7,124.89, after moving between 7,090.47 and 7,190.55 on turnover of NT$64.24 billion (US$2.18 billion).
At the end of the session, the pulp and paper sector suffered the heaviest losses among the market’s eight largest sectors, finishing down 1.26 percent, while the cement sector closed up 0.17 percent.
GRETAI, Tokyo bourse ink pact
GRETAI Securities Market yesterday signed a memorandum of understanding with the Tokyo Stock Exchange to help attract listing by emerging enterprises and revitalize the two countries’ markets.
NHK reported that more than 600 emerging companies are listed on the GTSM, which mainly serves the over-the-counter and bond markets in Taiwan.
Taiwan is currently focused on developing emerging markets, and the cooperation could help the country learn from Japan’s trade rules and experience in reviewing listing companies there, the report said.
KGI, China firm to cooperate
KGI Securities Co (凱基證券) on Wednesday signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) with China’s Industrial Securities Co (興業證券) for future business cooperation, hoping the pact would help it penetrate the Chinese market and boost business exchanges across the Taiwan Strait.
Taiwan slips in WEF report
Taiwan was ranked 29th in this year’s global Enabling Trade Index compiled by the Swiss-based World Economic Forum (WEF), down one place from 2010, according to the latest biennial rankings released on Wednesday.
Among the four sub-indices used for the evaluation, Taiwan was rated 19th in transport and communications infrastructure, 22nd in business environment, 31st in customs administration and 101st in market access.
The WEF report shows that Singapore, Hong Kong, Denmark and Sweden secured their positions as the four best performers among 132 economies worldwide that were included in the index. Rounding out the top 10 were New Zealand, Finland, the Netherlands, Switzerland, Canada and Luxembourg, in that order.
Auto sales down 17.5%
Domestic car sales fell 17.5 percent in the first 20 days of this month from a month earlier owing to a seasonal slowdown, government statistics showed on Wednesday.
Total number of cars sold in the 20-day period reached 11,677, down 0.1 percent from a year earlier, according to the statistics.
For the period from Jan. 1 to May 20, total car sales in Taiwan fell 5.6 percent from a year earlier to 136,000 units.
Ford to debut at Computex
Ford Motor Co will make its debut at this year’s Computex Taipei, with a focus on car electronics, Taiwan External Trade Development Council (TAITRA), one of the organizers of the annual computer trade show, said yesterday.
The show, which will host a record 1,800 exhibitors and use 5,300 booths this year, will be held from June 5 to 9 at the Taipei World Trade Center, TAITRA said.
Ford Motor will make major industry-first announcements both for Taiwan and Asia at the show, and showcase its latest in-car connectivity technology, it said.
NT dollar edges down
The New Taiwan dollar fell against the US dollar yesterday, declining NT$0.059 to close at NT$29.645 on turnover of US$753 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