Shares close higher
Shares closed 0.49 percent higher yesterday, extending the market's advance through a fifth consecutive session as further liquidity inflow sustained investor interest, dealers said.
The TAIEX closed up 40.58 points at 8,355.26, on turnover of NT$122.88 billion (US$3.72 billion).
On the foreign exchange market, the NT dollar declined NT$0.011 to close at NT$33.032. Turnover was US$686 million on the Taipei Forex Inc.
Export growth slows
Exports last month reached US$19.58 billion, up by 3.5 percent from a year earlier, the lowest growth rate since July 2005 -- except for February which recorded fewer working days -- the Ministry of Finance said yesterday.
Imports declined 0.1 percent year-on-year to total US$18.19 billion on dramatic import cuts of 40.2 percent from Africa and decreases of over 11 percent from ASEAN nations and the Middle East, the ministry said.
Still, last month's imports were the third highest in history.
As a result, the trade surplus last month reached US$1.39 billion, up by 95.9 percent from the same period last year. It was the 15th consecutive month that the nation recorded strong overseas trade, said Lee Li-shu (李麗雪), director of the statistics department.
For the first five months of the year, the trade surplus stood at US$9.13 billion, up 39.8 percent from the same period a year earlier.
Skype Pro on the market
PChome-Skype, an Internet telephony service operated by Internet portal PC Home Online (網路家庭) in Taiwan, yesterday introduced "Skype Pro" -- a service that allows users to make local calls in 28 countries at 0.039 euros, or about NT$1.16, per call.
Countries and territories in which the service is available include Taiwan, Hong Kong, Singapore and most countries in Europe, the company said in a statement.
Users of Skype Pro are required to pay a monthly fee of NT$99 to make local calls at the advertised rate -- regardless of duration.
Currently, there are about 6 million users of PChome-Skype and 550,000 of them are paid users. Together with subscriptions from 1,000 enterprise users, the service generates NT$350 million for the company per year, it said.
`twA-1' ratings refined
Taiwan Ratings Corp (中華信評) said it has refined its short-term credit rating scale by dividing its `twA-1' short-term rating category into `twA-1+' and `twA-1' notches to reflect a deeper market.
The change has resulted in the upward revision of the ratings on a total of 64 companies, the ratings agency said yesterday. Yet the upward adjustment does not represent improvement in credit quality.
Up to 41 companies that were previously rated `twA-1' moved one notch up to `twA-1+,' including Bank of Taiwan (臺灣銀行), Cathay Financial Holding Co (國泰金控), Chinatrust Financial Holding Co (中信金控), China Steel Corp (中鋼) and Chunghwa Telecom Co (中華電信).
The other 23 rated firms climbed to `twA-1' from `twA-2.' Companies with a strong capability to meet financial commitments on obligation are rated `twA-1,' while `twA-2' suggests satisfactory capability in this regard, according to the ratings firm.
`Matchmaking' event planned
A business "matchmaking" event will take place in Taipei on July 12 and 13 to boost trade relations between Taiwanese and German companies from the federal state of Baden-Wurttemberg, a German Trade Office spokesman said yesterday.
German companies will attend the event to identify Taiwanese business partners.
The Eurovision Song Contest has seen a surge in punter interest at the bookmakers, becoming a major betting event, experts said ahead of last night’s giant glamfest in Basel. “Eurovision has quietly become one of the biggest betting events of the year,” said Tomi Huttunen, senior manager of the Online Computer Finland (OCS) betting and casino platform. Betting sites have long been used to gauge which way voters might be leaning ahead of the world’s biggest televised live music event. However, bookmakers highlight a huge increase in engagement in recent years — and this year in particular. “We’ve already passed 2023’s total activity and
Nvidia Corp CEO Jensen Huang (黃仁勳) today announced that his company has selected "Beitou Shilin" in Taipei for its new Taiwan office, called Nvidia Constellation, putting an end to months of speculation. Industry sources have said that the tech giant has been eyeing the Beitou Shilin Science Park as the site of its new overseas headquarters, and speculated that the new headquarters would be built on two plots of land designated as "T17" and "T18," which span 3.89 hectares in the park. "I think it's time for us to reveal one of the largest products we've ever built," Huang said near the
China yesterday announced anti-dumping duties as high as 74.9 percent on imports of polyoxymethylene (POM) copolymers, a type of engineering plastic, from Taiwan, the US, the EU and Japan. The Chinese Ministry of Commerce’s findings conclude a probe launched in May last year, shortly after the US sharply increased tariffs on Chinese electric vehicles, computer chips and other imports. POM copolymers can partially replace metals such as copper and zinc, and have various applications, including in auto parts, electronics and medical equipment, the Chinese ministry has said. In January, it said initial investigations had determined that dumping was taking place, and implemented preliminary
Intel Corp yesterday reinforced its determination to strengthen its partnerships with Taiwan’s ecosystem partners including original-electronic-manufacturing (OEM) companies such as Hon Hai Precision Industry Co (鴻海精密) and chipmaker United Microelectronics Corp (UMC, 聯電). “Tonight marks a new beginning. We renew our new partnership with Taiwan ecosystem,” Intel new chief executive officer Tan Lip-bu (陳立武) said at a dinner with representatives from the company’s local partners, celebrating the 40th anniversary of the US chip giant’s presence in Taiwan. Tan took the reins at Intel six weeks ago aiming to reform the chipmaker and revive its past glory. This is the first time Tan
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