TAIEX lower on growth worries
The TAIEX closed down 0.2 percent yesterday, dragged down by concerns over the domestic economic slowdown after media reports that the government might cut the nation’s economic growth forecast for this year later this month.
The weighted index traded between a high of 7,147.38 and a low of 7,085.38 before closing down 14.23 points at 7,090.04 on turnover of NT$55.94 billion (US$1.87 billion).
A total of 1,186 stocks closed up and 2,474 finished down, while 44 remained unchanged.
Furlough numbers decline
The number of workers on furlough dropped by 43 percent to 610 in the past two weeks, according to statistics released by the Council of Labor Affairs yesterday.
As of Sunday, those workers from 20 companies had reached agreements with their employers to take unpaid leave and are currently on furlough, the statistics showed.
The figure represented a decrease from June 30, when 1,073 workers from 17 companies were on furlough.
It was the first time that the number of furloughed workers had fallen below 1,000 since the council began releasing the figures in October last year.
The figures reached their peak on Dec. 31 of last year, when more than 13,000 workers from over 100 companies agreed to furlough arrangements with their employers, with more than 12,000 on leave at that time.
Luxgen sees promise in Laos
Luxgen Motor Co (納智捷汽車), a subsidiary of the nation’s largest automaker, Yulon Motor Co (裕隆汽車), yesterday said that its cars have begun to gain recognition in Laos.
Luxgen, which was launched in January 2009, set up a distribution center in the Laotian capital of Vientiane in March this year after expanding into Vietnam in 2010.
Yang Chen-yi (楊鎮奕), Luxgen’s general manager in Laos, said that promoting the brand in the country would take a lot of work because of the dominance of Japanese vehicles in the market, but he said the initial response to the new showroom in Vientiane had been positive.
Liao Yi-chun (廖毅群), Luxgen’s deputy manager in Laos, said the company expected sales to rise considerably in the future because its four-wheel drive models are well-suited to the country’s poor road conditions.
Tech leaders in cloud forum
A number of technology company leaders will meet at a local forum tomorrow to discuss changes in the cloud-computing industry and cloud business opportunities on the global stage.
The forum will be attended by IBM vice president Thomas Li (李實恭), Intel Taiwan’s country manager Jason Chen (陳立生) and Google Taiwan managing director Chien Lee-feng (簡立峰), the organizer said.
Other speakers include Quanta Computer Inc (廣達電腦) chairman Barry Lam (林百里), Chunghwa Telecom Co (中華電信) chairman Lu Shyue-ching (呂學錦) and Trend Micro Inc (趨勢科技) cofounder and CEO Eva Chen (陳怡樺), it said.
According to the Industrial Economics and Knowledge Research Center, the output of global cloud services is expected to grow from US$27.95 billion last year to US$63.84 billion in 2015.
Taiwan’s cloud service market is projected to double from the current NT$7.5 billion to NT$15 billion in 2015, the institute said.
NT dollar advances
The New Taiwan dollar gained ground against the US dollar yesterday, rising NT$0.005 to close at NT$30.010. Turnover totaled US$458 million.
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The consumer price index (CPI) last month eased to 1.95 percent, below the central bank’s 2 percent target, as food and entertainment cost increases decelerated, helped by stable egg prices, the Directorate-General of Budget, Accounting and Statistics (DGBAS) said yesterday. The slowdown bucked predictions by policymakers and academics that inflationary pressures would build up following double-digit electricity rate hikes on April 1. “The latest CPI data came after the cost of eating out and rent grew moderately amid mixed international raw material prices,” DGBAS official Tsao Chih-hung (曹志弘) told a news conference in Taipei. The central bank in March raised interest rates by