TAIEX hit by Cyprus worries
The TAIEX lost ground yesterday as the euro fell under pressure from a bank deposit tax set to take effect in Cyprus.
Financial stocks also took a hit, falling continuously after the opening of the session and finishing down about 2.3 percent.
Six other major sectors also closed down, although foodstuff stocks rose nearly 1 percent thanks to a drop in prices of raw materials.
The benchmark weighted index opened at 7,886.69 and closed down 116.15 points, or 1.47 percent, at 7,811.34, on turnover of NT$70.15 billion (US$2.36 billion).
A total of 1,237 stocks finished up, 3,855 closed down and 239 remained unchanged.
Furloughed worker numbers fall
The number of workers on furlough in Taiwan has dropped by 33 percent to 1,711 in the past two weeks, statistics released by the Council of Labor Affairs yesterday showed.
As of Friday, workers from 35 companies reached agreements with their employers to take unpaid leave, 1,396 of which are currently on furlough, the figures showed.
Most of the furloughed workers will take one to four days of leave each month, the council said.
The number represents a decrease from Feb. 28, when 2,547 workers from 42 companies had struck furlough agreemnets with their employers, 2,216 of which were on furlough at the time.
The figure is the lowest since Sept. 15 last year.
McDonald’s promotes breakfast
McDonald’s restaurants across the nation gave away more than 340,000 Egg McMuffins yesterday as part of a campaign to encourage people to start the day with a good meal.
Every one of the 346 McDonald’s stores in the country joined their counterparts in 30-plus other nations across Asia, the Middle East and Africa in handing out free Egg McMuffins between 7am and 10am.
McDonald’s Taiwan managing director Lynn Tan (陳麒亦) handed out the first free sandwich and led other senior executives in serving patrons at a Taipei outlet.
The Taiwanese McDonald’s stores gave away 1,000 free burgers during the promotional campaign, known as McDonald’s International Breakfast Day.
China names new regulator
Bank of China (中國銀行) chairman Xiao Gang (肖鋼) resigned from his post after he was chosen to head China’s top securities regulator, reports said late on Sunday.
Xiao was announced as the new head of the China Securities Regulatory Commission on Sunday, Xinhua news agency reported, citing the Shanghai Securities News and other financial reports.
Bank of China, one of China’s “Big Four” lenders, said Xiao resigned “due to the needs of national financial work,” in a filing to the Hong Kong Stock Exchange, without elaborating.
TAITRA inks deal with Missouri
Representatives of the Taiwan External Trade Development Council (TAITRA) and the US state of Missouri yesterday signed a memorandum of intent to jointly explore business opportunities in the Asia-Pacific market.
The deal was inked by TAITRA president and CEO Chao Yuen-chuan (趙永全) and Chris Pieper, acting director of the Missouri Department of Economic Development, to encourage businesses in the US to take advantage of Taiwan’s position as a regional economic hub.
Missouri exports to Taiwan include agricultural goods, industrial and electrical machinery, plastics, vehicles and chemical products.
Taiwan Transport and Storage Corp (TTS, 台灣通運倉儲) yesterday unveiled its first electric tractor unit — manufactured by Volvo Trucks — in a ceremony in Taipei, and said the unit would soon be used to transport cement produced by Taiwan Cement Corp (TCC, 台灣水泥). Both TTS and TCC belong to TCC International Holdings Ltd (台泥國際集團). With the electric tractor unit, the Taipei-based cement firm would become the first in Taiwan to use electric vehicles to transport construction materials. TTS chairman Koo Kung-yi (辜公怡), Volvo Trucks vice president of sales and marketing Johan Selven, TCC president Roman Cheng (程耀輝) and Taikoo Motors Group
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
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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],”