Eurozone woes sap TAIEX
The TAIEX fell below the 7,700 point mark yesterday as turnover shrank further amid lingering concerns over debt problems in the eurozone, dealers said.
Worries about financially struggling Spain increased after the country’s prime minister denied overnight that a request for European aid would be made any time soon amid rising protests against further austerity measures, they said.
The weighted index closed down 34.05 points, or 0.44 percent, at 7,684.63, after moving between 7,680.98 and 7,727.53, on turnover of NT$56.25 billion (US$1.92 billion).
Hon Hai to launch 60-inch TVs
Hon Hai Precision Industry Co (鴻海) is likely to launch 60-inch LCD TVs at the end of this month at the earliest, market sources said yesterday.
In the initial stage, the sources said, Hon Hai will put the new flat-screen TVs, which serve as smart TVs equipped with Internet communication functions, on sale in Taiwan and China before promoting the products on the global market.
The retail prices for the TVs are likely to be higher than the preferential price of below NT$40,000 per unit Hon Hai offers to its employees, sources said.
Chinese solar plant planned
Foxconn Technology Group (富士康) and GCL-Poly Energy Holding Ltd (保利協鑫) are to build and jointly operate a solar-power plant in China’s Shanxi Province.
The companies will share revenue from selling electricity to the government utility at the 310-megawatt plant, which will use GCL’s solar cells to be assembled by Foxconn, Hong Kong-listed GCL’s executive president Shu Hua (舒樺) told Bloomberg News yesterday.
He declined to specify the investment amount or revenue split for the facility, which is scheduled to be fully operational during the first half of next year.
Kaohsiung to free up land
Greater Kaohsiung’s urban development arm said on Tuesday that over the next two years it would prepare for an expansion of the city’s industrial-use land totaling 508 hectares in an effort to persuade Taiwanese business owners operating in China and overseas to invest there.
The city authorities are planning expansions of 87 hectares at the Benjhou Industrial Park (本洲工業區), 141 hectares at a green industrial park in Daliao District (大寮), 150 hectares at a metal fasteners park in Alian District (阿蓮) and 130 hectares at a tech park in Jenwu District (仁武).
The main structures in the expanded areas are slated to be completed by 2016, the officials said.
Farmland to be reactivated
Agricultural authorities plan to restore about 6 percent of the nation’s farmland, unused for more than a decade, to bolster locally grown food supplies, officials said on Tuesday.
About 50,000 hectares of farmland would be reactivated under a four-year program beginning next year. The proposal is pending the Cabinet’s approval.
The program is expected to help increase domestically produced food, which currently stands at 32 percent of total supplies, said Lin Mei-hua, an official at the Council of Agriculture.
Farmers working on the newly opened land will be encouraged to produce corn and soybean as well as crops that can be turned into biofuel, she said.
NT dollar slips slightly
The New Taiwan dollar fell against the US dollar yesterday, declining NT$0.02 to close at NT$29.405.
Turnover totaled about US$749 million during the trading session.
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