Cabinet says no to market prop
Vice Premier Lin Hsin-yi (林信義) says he sees no immediate needs for the government to intervene in the stock market to shore up prices in the wake of the US-led war against Iraq.
Lin said the island's benchmark TAIEX has remained stable. It fell 0.4 percent today and 0.3 percent on March 21.
The government said earlier this month it has three possible measures to curb share-price swings in a US war against Iraq: It could alter its 7 percent daily limit on stock movements; it could close the stock market and it could use the National Stabilization Fund (國安基金) to pump up shares.
China airlines re-routes flights
China Airlines Co (華航), Taiwan's largest air carrier, announced yesterday that it has decided to re-route some of its Europe-bound flights to avoid areas neighboring the war zones as the US-led war against Iraq escalates.
A China Airlines spokesman said the decision was made at the recommendation of the International Civil Aviation Organization out of security concerns.
To be re-routed are the carrier's Taipei-Rome passenger flights and Taipei-Luxembourg cargo flights which originally flew from Taipei to Europe via Abu Dhabi, Bahrain, Saudi Arabia and Egypt. As Bahrain is close to Kuwait, which faces possible attacks from Iraq, these flights will be re-routed to bypass Bahrain, the spokesman said.
"Our planes will now fly via Abu Dhabi, central Saudi Arabia and Egypt to Europe. As a result, the flight time will be 20 to 30 minutes longer," he said.
China Airlines' other Europe-bound flights will not be adjusted as they fly either via Bangkok or Russia, the spokesman said.
Last Friday the company filed an application with China's civil aviation authorities for permission to fly through Chinese airspace during the duration of the war in Iraq and is still waiting for a reply from Chinese authorities, he said.
Plant closures up since last year
Companies shut factories at a faster pace than they opened new ones last month as manufacturers shifted production to China where wages and other costs are lower.
Factory closures rose 47 percent from a year earlier to 212, according to the Ministry of Economic Affairs. New factory registrations rose 31 percent to 205.
Investment in China rose to US$264 million in February from US$71.1 million in the year-earlier period, the Investment Commission said in a separate report last week.
In contrast, foreign direct investment fell by three-fifths to US$81.6 million last month from US$206 million.
In the first two months, factory closures rose 16 percent from the same period a year earlier, and new factory registrations rose 17 percent.
NT$90bn bond sale planned
Taiwan plans to sell NT$90 billion (US$2.6 billion) of government bonds in the second quarter, 42 percent less than in the first quarter.
The government will auction NT$30 billion of five-year bonds on April 10, the Ministry of Finance said in a statement on March 21. It also plans to sell NT$30 billion of two-year bonds on May 13, and the same amount of 10-year bonds on June 10.
The auctions are part of an estimated NT$400 billion in government bond sales this year.
NT dollar rises
The New Taiwan dollar yesterday traded higher against its US counterpart, rising NT$0.03 to close at NT$34.788 on the Taipei foreign exchange market.
Turnover was US$490 million.
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