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World Business Quick Take

■ FOREX
Moody's upgrades ratings
International ratings agency Moody's Investors Service has upgraded its currency ratings for China, Hong Kong and Macau. Moody's raised China's long-term foreign currency bond rating to "A1" from "A2" on the back of the exceptional strength of its external payments position, favorable government debt trends and continued progress in economic reform. Outlook is stable, it said yesterday. For Hong Kong, Moody's raised its ratings to "Aa2" from "Aa3" to reflect a strengthening of the government's finances and its external position. It also upgraded ratings for Macau to "Aa3" from "A1," with a stable outlook.

■ NEW ZEALAND
Central bank raises rates
The Reserve Bank of New Zealand raised interest rates yesterday for the fourth successive time this year in an effort to beat inflation but suggested the hike may be the last in the current cycle. Bank Governor Alan Bollard announced the official cash rate would rise by a quarter of a percentage point to 8.25 percent, one of the highest rates in the developed world. But Bollard acknowledged the harmful impact the strong currency has been having on the nation's exporters.

■ SEMICONDUCTORS
Matsushita plans chip deal
Japan's Matsushita and Renesas Technology plan to jointly develop process technology for 32-nanometer system chips, the most-advanced semiconductor, a report said yesterday. Electronics giant Matsushita Electric Industrial Co and Renesas Technology Corp hope to sign an agreement of the by the end of the fiscal year, the Nikkei Shimbun reported, without clarifying sources. Through the deal, technicians of Matsushita and Renesas will work to devise ways to fabricate fine circuits so that they will be able to make chips smaller and more energy-efficient than conventional versions, the business paper said.

■ PIRACY
High-tech help for drinkers
High-tech help will soon be available for discerning South Korean drinkers who suspect they are being served fake Scotch. Local bottlers from next year will be urged to incorporate radio frequency identification (RFID) chips in their 21-year-old whisky blends, the Korea Times reported yesterday. South Korean Assistant Minister of Information and Communication Yang Jun-cheol was quoted as saying that the government would encourage local whisky bottlers to embed RFID chips in bottles of 12-year-old and 17-year-old blends by 2012. The project is part of efforts to boost the RFID business, he said, with the tags expected to be extended to other areas such as logistics, distribution and the production of top-end items.

■ SOFTWARE
Judge wants to see contract
A US judge on Wednesday gave ConnectU creators two weeks to shore up their lawsuit accusing Facebook's founder of stealing their plan for a social networking Web site for college students. Tyler and Cameron Winklevoss claim that they enlisted Mark Zuckerberg to finish software code for their Web site while they were all students at Harvard in 2003. US District Judge Douglas Woodlock told the court in Boston, Massachusetts. Winklevosses may be using the lawsuit as a ploy to extract a settlement from Facebook, and pressed their lawyer to produce evidence of a commercial deal with Zuckerberg. "Dorm room chitchat does not make a contract, so I want to see it," Woodlock said.

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