EYE OF THE BEHOLDER: Developers are upbeat and are preparing to invest heavily in housing projects after the presidential election, but buyers are far less enthusiastic
By Joyce Huang
In sharp contrast to land developers' enthusiasm, the nation's home buyers were deeply pessimistic about the real estate market's prospects during the final quarter of last year, with the property price confidence index plumbing new depths, the results of a survey showed yesterday.

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STRONG: The currency closed at NT$31.210 against the greenback, with some traders saying the momentum would test the NT$31 level today
By Judy Lin
The NT dollar matched a 33-month record-high against the US dollar yesterday, as inward remittances and exporters' sell orders on the greenback continued to strengthen the local currency.

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By Lisa Wang
Taiwan Mobile Co (台灣大哥大), the nation's second-largest telecom operator, is looking to broadband and other services to increase revenue as a result of a stagnant mobile voice service sector and a trend toward telecom convergence, a company executive said yesterday.

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By Judy Lin
The Taiwan Institute for Economic Research (TIER, 台經院) said yesterday its business climate survey revealed mixed sentiment among manufacturers and service providers for the next six months.

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By Jerry Lin
The nation's export orders increased 16.89 percent year-on-year to NT$951.37 billion (US$30.31 billion) last month, buoyed by demand from China and Japan, the Ministry of Economic Affairs said yesterday.

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The unemployment rate declined to 3.80 percent last month from 3.83 percent in December, the lowest level for that month in seven years, largely as a result of a decline in first-time job seekers, the government said yesterday.

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GENERALLY GOOD: Citigroup yesterday said that the negative influence of the joint venture on Taiwanese flat panel makers will be limited because of outsourcing
By Kevin Chen
The proposed liquid-crystal-display (LCD) joint venture between Sony and Sharp is expected to bring positive impact on the overall industry but limited negative influence to Taiwanese flat panel makers, Citigroup said yesterday.

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China Steel Corp (中鋼), the nation's largest maker of the metal, said sellers of coking coal are asking buyers to pay as much as twice last year's prices because of reduced supplies from China and Australia.

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Taipei Financial Center Corp (台北金融大樓公司), owner of the world's tallest building, may consider selling NT$5 billion (US$160 million) in shares to bolster revenue by expanding the amount of retail space at the tower.

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Shares close higher

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