Market capitalization falls
As of Wednesday, the total market capitalization on the main bourse totaled about NT$22.2 trillion (US$742 billion), down NT$68.26 billion from the level recorded on March 29, the Taiwan Stock Exchange said.
The exchange said the rubber sector scored the highest growth of 4.4 percent in market capitalization among all of the sectors on the main board during the period with its size totaling NT$436.81 billion, while the auto sector witnessed its market capitalization falling by 1.01 percent — the steepest drop on the main market — to about NT$371 billion.
On Wednesday, the TAIEX closed up 0.36 percent, at 7,942.35 points. The market was closed yesterday and will be closed today for national holidays.
Compal turns to Broadcom
US chip designer Broadcom Inc said on Tuesday that Taiwanese handset maker Compal Communications Inc (華寶) is using its new smartphone processor for the production of new Android smartphones. The announcement represented Broadcom’s latest bid to compete with Qualcomm Inc and Taiwan’s MediaTek Inc (聯發科).
Broadcom said in a statement that Compal would ship new smartphones with its turnkey platform in the second quarter of this year, which would help Compal minimize development costs and bring new products to market more quickly.
New Android smartphones from Compal feature a dual-core 3G processor. Broadcom said its family of 3G and 4G LTE smartphone solutions deliver the features required for all tiers of smartphones.
EVA launches Okayama service
EVA Airways Corp (EVA, 長榮航空), Taiwan’s second-largest international carrier, launched direct flight services from Taipei to Okayama in Japan on Wednesday, reflecting the airline’s bid to boost its presence in Taiwan’s northeastern neighbor.
The flights, using McDonnell Douglas MD-90 aircraft, will be offered every Wednesday and Saturday to the city in the southern part of Japan’s main island, Honshu, EVA said.
However, as travel demand to Okayama varies greatly between peak and off-peak seasons, the flights will only operate from April to November, the carrier said.
The route will be replaced by one between Taipei and Niigata during the other half of the year, as the city in western Japan is a popular ski destination for Taiwanese tourists.
With another route between Taipei and the Japanese city of Asahikawa to be launched next month, EVA said it will be providing 67 flights per week to 11 Japanese destinations.
UPS to boost presence
UPS announced on Tuesday that it will expand its presence in central and southern Taiwan, adding a new express air freight service that will allow customers to ship pallets over 70kg within UPS’ global air network.
Anita Li (李維潔), managing director of UPS Taiwan, said the company’s business was stable last year and predicted that business this year will be even better.
She noted that Taiwan’s exports have registered positive growth for the seventh month since last August, and that the country’s logistics market will gradually improve along as the global economy slowly recovers.
UPS Taiwan’s business last year mainly catered to clients in the sectors of high-tech manufacturing, and auto parts and components.
Assets exceed US$1 billion
The total assets of Taiwanese banks in Shanghai had reached 7.63 billion Chinese yuan (US$1.23 billion) as of February, with deposits of 582 million yuan, according to statistics published by Shanghai’s banking regulator on Wednesday.
As of that month, Taiwanese banks in Shanghai had extended loans of 1.91 billion yuan, primarily to the manufacturing industry, according to the regulator.
The latest figures were released after China’s banking regulator gave the go-ahead for the Shanghai branches of Taiwan-based Cathay United Bank (國泰世華銀行) and First Commercial Bank (第一銀行) to conduct yuan-denominated operations for all businesses in China, except for Chinese citizens. Previously, the banks had only been allowed to conduct yuan deposits, loans and remittances for Taiwanese businesses in China.
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