■ FOREX
US Dollar Index falling
The US Dollar Index may extend its decline to reach a record low of 70.70 should it close below so-called support at 71.82, said Kevin Edgeley, a technical analyst at Goldman Sachs Group Inc, the world’s biggest securities firm. The index, which tracks the performance of the dollar against six of the US’ biggest trading partners, has fallen through the lower boundary, or support, of an ascending channel that connects the lows of March 17, April 22 and May 22, London- based Edgeley said. The next support level at 71.82 is the low set on May 22, he said. Support is a level where buy orders may be clustered.
■ INVESTMENT
BAA to swap bonds
BAA Ltd, the owner of London’s Heathrow, Stansted and Gatwick airports, proposed exchanging about US$9.6 billion of bonds denominated in euros and pounds for new secured instruments as part of a refinancing program. The new debt will be backed by these three airports as well as the Heathrow Express train, Grupo Ferrovial SA’s BAA said in an e-mailed statement yesterday. The bonds will have the same expected maturity and higher credit ratings as the debt they would replace, the statement said. The new securities will be rated in the single-A category, London-based BAA said. Holders of the new bonds also would get a “higher level of transparency through investor disclosure and forecasting” as well as a “much more comprehensive covenant package,” the statement said. The world’s biggest airport operator is also offering existing investors a higher coupon on the new securities to encourage them to exchange their existing bonds, the statement said. BAA wants to swap about £2.8 billion (US$5.6 billion) and about 2.5 billion euros (US$4 billion) of bonds by Aug. 8, the statement said.
■ PERU
Finance minister takes office
A career economist from the IMF was set to become the nation’s new finance minister yesterday. The president’s office said Luis Valdivieso would be sworn in to replace Luis Carranza. Valdivieso worked for the IMF for almost 30 years. Carranza said he stepped down for family and personal reasons and not because of any policy differences with President Alan Garcia’s administration. Under Carranza, Lima saw its foreign debt rating rise to investment grade, in a major endorsement of Garcia’s market-friendly policies.
■ MEDIA
New CFO appointed
Norske Skogindustrier ASA, the world’s second-largest newsprint maker, has appointed Audun Roeneid as its new chief financial officer. Roeneid is currently CFO at Canada’s Davie Yards Inc, and has also been finance head of Aker Yards ASA in Norway, Norske Skog said yesterday in a Hugin newswire release. He replaces Andreas Enger, who stepped down in May following disagreements with chief executive officer Christian Rynning-Toennesen over strategy. Roeneid’s starting date has not yet been settled, the Norwegian company said.
■ ENTERTAINMENT
Xbox 360 price reduced
Microsoft said on Sunday that it was cutting the price of its 20-gigabyte Xbox 360 video game consoles and rolling out a model with three times the memory space to take its place. It said it will trim US$50 from Xbox 360 models with 20 gigabytes in the US or Canada, cutting prices to US$299. An upgraded Xbox 360 Pro model with 60 gigabytes of memory will hit markets in those same two countries next month with US$349 price tags, it said.
The government is aiming to recruit 1,096 foreign English teachers and teaching assistants this year, the Ministry of Education said yesterday. The foreign teachers would work closely with elementary and junior-high instructors to create and teach courses, ministry official Tsai Yi-ching (蔡宜靜) said. Together, they would create an immersive language environment, helping to motivate students while enhancing the skills of local teachers, she said. The ministry has since 2021 been recruiting foreign teachers through the Taiwan Foreign English Teacher Program, which offers placement, salary, housing and other benefits to eligible foreign teachers. Two centers serving northern and southern Taiwan assist in recruiting and training
WIDE NET: Health officials said they are considering all possibilities, such as bongkrekic acid, while the city mayor said they have not ruled out the possibility of a malicious act of poisoning Two people who dined at a restaurant in Taipei’s Far Eastern Department Store Xinyi A13 last week have died, while four are in intensive care, the Taipei Department of Health said yesterday. All of the outlets of Malaysian vegetarian restaurant franchise Polam Kopitiam have been ordered to close pending an investigation after 11 people became ill due to suspected food poisoning, city officials told a news conference in Taipei. The first fatality, a 39-year-old man who ate at the restaurant on Friday last week, died of kidney failure two days later at the city’s Mackay Memorial Hospital. A 66-year-old man who dined
EYE ON STRAIT: The US spending bill ‘doubles security cooperation funding for Taiwan,’ while also seeking to counter the influence of China US President Joe Biden on Saturday signed into law a US$1.2 trillion spending package that includes US$300 million in foreign military financing to Taiwan, as well as funding for Taipei-Washington cooperative projects. The US Congress early on Saturday overwhelmingly passed the Further Consolidated Appropriations Act 2024 to avoid a partial shutdown and fund the government through September for a fiscal year that began six months ago. Under the package, the Defense Appropriations Act would provide a US$27 billion increase from the previous fiscal year to fund “critical national defense efforts, including countering the PRC [People’s Republic of China],” according to a summary
‘CARRIER KILLERS’: The Tuo Chiang-class corvettes’ stealth capability means they have a radar cross-section as small as the size of a fishing boat, an analyst said President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) yesterday presided over a ceremony at Yilan County’s Suao Harbor (蘇澳港), where the navy took delivery of two indigenous Tuo Chiang-class corvettes. The corvettes, An Chiang (安江) and Wan Chiang (萬江), along with the introduction of the coast guard’s third and fourth 4,000-tonne cutters earlier this month, are a testament to Taiwan’s shipbuilding capability and signify the nation’s resolve to defend democracy and freedom, Tsai said. The vessels are also the last two of six Tuo Chiang-class corvettes ordered from Lungteh Shipbuilding Co (龍德造船) by the navy, Tsai said. The first Tuo Chiang-class vessel delivered was Ta Chiang (塔江)