■AUTOMOBILES
BMW sales dipped last year
The German group BMW said yesterday that sales last year slipped 4.7 percent as the luxury car market was hit by the global recession, but added that it expected to sell more than 1.3 million autos this year. Group sales fell to 50.68 billion euros (US$70.64 billion), it said in a statement that provided provisional results. Final results are to be published on March 17, with the BMW chief saying the company expected to post a pre-tax profit. Germany’s leading high-end automobile group is placing hopes for this year in a new Series 5 sedan expected to be released in March.
■ELECTRONICS
Toshiba books smaller loss
Toshiba Corp said yesterday it booked a much smaller loss in the quarter ending last month compared with a year earlier, bolstered by a recovery in its electronic component business. The Japanese conglomerate said third-quarter net loss narrowed to ¥10.64 billion (US$118.5 million) from ¥121.14 billion. Quarterly revenue rose 6 percent to ¥1.58 trillion from ¥1.49 trillion. Toshiba lowered its revenue target for the full fiscal year through March, saying it now expected revenues of ¥6.4 trillion, down from an earlier forecast of ¥6.8 trillion. The company kept its forecast for a ¥50 billion loss for the year.
■ELECTRONICS
Fujitsu returns to profit
Fujitsu Ltd, Japan’s biggest computer-services provider, swung to a profit in the third quarter after the company sold its money-losing hardware businesses. Net income was ¥4.1 billion in the three months ended Dec. 31, compared with a ¥40.8 billion loss a year earlier, the Tokyo-based company said in a statement yesterday. Fujitsu posted a ¥112.4 billion loss last fiscal year. The company completed the sale of its hard-disk-drive business to Toshiba Corp in October and has agreed to outsource some chipmaking to Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (台積電) to cut spending.
■INDIA
Central Bank retains rates
The central bank kept interest rates on hold yesterday, but moved to drain liquidity from the banking system to hedge off surging inflation without hurting economic recovery. The Reserve Bank of India boosted its cash reserve ratio — the sum commercial banks keep on deposit —by a higher-than-expected 75 basis points to 5.75 percent in what it said was a bid to tame “inflationary expectations.” Inflation last month surged to 7.31 percent year-on-year, propelled by soaring food prices. The two-stage increase, 25 basis points higher than analysts’ forecasts, will suck 360 billion rupees (US$7.7 billion) from the banking system. The rise was seen as a move toward monetary tightening after a period of aggressive easing to shield the country from the global slump.
■SOUTH KOREA
Industrial output up 33.9%
Industrial output last month jumped 33.9 percent from a year earlier, official data showed yesterday, as the economy continued to recover from the global slowdown. The steep rise was mainly attributed to a low base in December 2008, when industrial production dropped 18.7 percent year-on-year at the height of the slump, Statistics Korea said. Month-on-month output expanded 3.5 percent. Strong demand for semiconductors, cars and machinery contributed to the growth, it said.
UKRAINE, NVIDIA: The US leader said the subject of Russia’s war had come up ‘very strongly,’ while Jenson Huang was hoping that the conversation was good Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) and US President Donald Trump had differing takes following their meeting in Busan, South Korea, yesterday. Xi said that the two sides should complete follow-up work as soon as possible to deliver tangible results that would provide “peace of mind” to China, the US and the rest of the world, while Trump hailed the “great success” of the talks. The two discussed trade, including a deal to reduce tariffs slapped on China for its role in the fentanyl trade, as well as cooperation in ending the war in Ukraine, among other issues, but they did not mention
Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi yesterday lavished US President Donald Trump with praise and vows of a “golden age” of ties on his visit to Tokyo, before inking a deal with Washington aimed at securing critical minerals. Takaichi — Japan’s first female prime minister — pulled out all the stops for Trump in her opening test on the international stage and even announced that she would nominate him for a Nobel Peace Prize, the White House said. Trump has become increasingly focused on the Nobel since his return to power in January and claims to have ended several conflicts around the world,
GLOBAL PROJECT: Underseas cables ‘are the nervous system of democratic connectivity,’ which is under stress, Member of the European Parliament Rihards Kols said The government yesterday launched an initiative to promote global cooperation on improved security of undersea cables, following reported disruptions of such cables near Taiwan and around the world. The Management Initiative on International Undersea Cables aims to “bring together stakeholders, align standards, promote best practices and turn shared concerns into beneficial cooperation,” Minister of Foreign Affairs Lin Chia-lung (林佳龍) said at a seminar in Taipei. The project would be known as “RISK,” an acronym for risk mitigation, information sharing, systemic reform and knowledge building, he said at the seminar, titled “Taiwan-Europe Subsea Cable Security Cooperation Forum.” Taiwan sits at a vital junction on
LONG-HELD POSITION: Washington has repeatedly and clearly reiterated its support for Taiwan and its long-term policy, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said US Secretary of State Marco Rubio yesterday said that Taiwan should not be concerned about being used as a bargaining chip in the ongoing US-China trade talks. “I don’t think you’re going to see some trade deal where, if what people are worried about is, we’re going to get some trade deal or we’re going to get favorable treatment on trade in exchange for walking away from Taiwan,” Rubio told reporters aboard his airplane traveling between Israel and Qatar en route to Asia. “No one is contemplating that,” Reuters quoted Rubio as saying. A US Treasury spokesman yesterday told reporters
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