■ Forex reserves at record high
Taiwan's foreign exchange reserves rose to a record US$224.80 billion at the end of last month, the central bank said yesterday.
The bank attributed the increase from US$214.93 billion a month earlier to a jump in foreign capital inflows and returns on investments of the reserves.
Apart from the US dollar, some of the nation's foreign exchange reserves are in euro or yen-denominated assets.
Therefore, the appreciation of the euro and other currencies also helped lift the reserves, the third-highest in the world behind those of Japan and China, the bank said.
Japan held US$776.857 billion worth of foreign exchange reserves as of the end of February, ahead of China's US$415.72 billion posted in late January.
■ US company sues
The US-based Magnequench International Inc, a manufacturer of specialized magnetic powders and magnets, filed patent infringement suits against 13 Asian and US companies including Acer Inc, Asustek Computer Inc (華碩電腦) and Lite-On Technology Corp (光寶科技), a company press release said.
Other accused include Sony Corp, Eastman Kodak Co, Dell Corp, Wal-Mart and others. Magnequench filed the suits for the District of Delaware and a second suit in Indianapolis, Indiana. It asked the courts for an injunction to prohibit the importation of further infringing materials as well as treble damages.
Acer, Asustek and Lite-On Technology said the companies are still looking into the case.
■ Yulon Nissan hikes auto prices
Yulon Nissan Co (裕隆日產), an affiliate of Yulon Motor Co (裕隆汽車), announced to hike auto prices given that the rising yen has cut into profits.
Prices of Infiniti and Nissan models will rise about 4 percent.
"We cannot continue to fully absorb the exchange loss [to maintain profitability]," Yulon Nissan spokesman Wu Hsin-fa (吳新發) said.
The yen has appreciated 7 percent to 8 percent against the NT dollar recently, which has caused a 5 percent rise in costs for Yulon Nissan, Wu explained.
The price hike followed an earlier price increase from Hotai Motor Co (和泰汽車), which sells cars for Japan's Toyota Motor Co. Hotai raised the prices of Lexus vehicles by between 3 percent and 4 percent starting March 1.
■ Compal's sales rise
Compal Electronics Inc (仁寶), the world's second-largest notebook computer maker, said February sales rose 43 percent from a year ago to NT$12.7 billion (US$380.3 million), according to a Taiwan Stock Exchange statement.
Sales rose from NT$8.9 billion in January last year.
■ CPC opens offices in China
The state-run Chinese Petroleum Corp (CPC, 中油) will soon open two offices in China to explore trade opportunities in that market while keeping its business operations headquarters in Taiwan, said CPC Vice President Roy Chiu (邱吉雄).
Chiu said that the two offices, one in Beijing and the other in Shanghai, will be set up under the name of the Overseas Petroleum and Investment Corp, a CPC subsidiary, when the Ministry of Economic Affairs gives the green light to the project.
The Beijing office will be in charge of businesses concerning oil exploration and refining, while the Shanghai office will engage in promoting CPC-made oil products in China and offering services to China-based Taiwanese manufacturers.
■ NT dollar declines
The New Taiwan dollar yesterday turned weak against its US counterpart, declining NT$0.059 to close at NT$33.401 on the Taipei foreign exchange market.
Turnover was US$614 million.
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