Stocks
Saudi bourse may open up
Saudi Arabia is seeking to open its US$509 billion stock exchange to foreign investors in April next year, according to three people briefed on the nation’s plans. Saudi Arabia’s Capital Market Authority informed brokers and fund managers of the plan in London last month, two of the people said, asking not to be identified as the meeting was private. Saudi Arabia is not planning significant changes to draft rules published in August, the people said. The country announced in July that it would open the market in the first half of next year. The world’s biggest oil exporter is removing barriers to one of the world’s most-restricted major stock exchanges as it pursues a US$130 billion spending plan to boost non-energy industries. Opening the market might prompt global index provider MSCI Inc to include the bourse in its emerging market gauge by 2017, attracting as much as US$40 billion to the exchange, Schroders PLC said in July.
germany
Electric car stations to rise
The nation plans to expand its network of charging stations for electric cars countrywide to help boost lackluster demand, a Federal Ministry of Transport and Digital Infrastructure paper seen by reporters showed. Chancellor Angela Merkel’s government wants to bring 1 million battery-powered vehicles onto the roads of Europe’s largest economy by the end of this decade. However, high vehicle prices and drivers’ concerns about infrastructure and limited battery range have held back sales in the nation to just 24,000 models out of a market of about 3 million cars, government data show. The nation only has about 100 quick service charging points for electric cars, and about 4,800 charging stations running on alternating current, according to the ministry.
property
Dubai development surges
Dubai Investments PJSC plans to invest 10 billion dirhams (US$2.7 billion) in real-estate projects in the next five years as it seeks to benefit from resurgent property demand. Developments include Mirdiff Hills, a 2.5 billion dirham project in Dubai that is set to include 1,500 homes, a 230-room hotel, shops and 185,00m2 of office space, Dubai Investments chief executive officer Khalid Bin Kalban said in an interview. The company’s Dubai Investment Real Estate Co unit plans to start tendering for the development in the next two months, he said. Dubai Investments, whose largest shareholder is state-owned Investment Corporation of Dubai, is seeking to profit from a market recovery in the emirate after one of the world’s worst property crashes during the financial crisis in 2008. Local developers are reviving projects amid a surge in prices and new government measures which have helped stabilize the market.
macroeconomics
SYRIZA lays out fiscal policy
A left-wing Greek government would not run deficits, but would pursue fiscal consolidation, the main opposition party’s chief economic policymaker said on Saturday. “Fiscal consolidation? Of course, yes, but in our way, in a way which places the burden on those who can pay,” SYRIZA Party’s Economic Policy Committee chief economist John Milios told reporters. Milios appeared certain Greece is headed for early elections that would result in a stable SYRIZA majority. “No, we are not going to follow a deficit policy. On the other hand, we will not accept, like the present government has agreed, to create an enormous budget surplus, 4.5 percent [of GDP] in 2016.”
Taiwan will prioritize the development of silicon photonics by taking advantage of its strength in the semiconductor industry to build another shield to protect the local economy, National Development Council (NDC) Minister Paul Liu (劉鏡清) said yesterday. Speaking at a meeting of the legislature’s Economics Committee, Liu said Taiwan already has the artificial intelligence (AI) industry as a shield, after the semiconductor industry, to safeguard the country, and is looking at new unique fields to build more economic shields. While Taiwan will further strengthen its existing shields, over the longer term, the country is determined to focus on such potential segments as
UNCERTAINTY: Innolux activated a stringent supply chain management mechanism, as it did during the COVID-19 pandemic, to ensure optimal inventory levels for customers Flat-panel display makers AUO Corp (友達) and Innolux Corp (群創) yesterday said that about 12 to 20 percent of their display business is at risk of potential US tariffs and that they would relocate production or shipment destinations to mitigate the levies’ effects. US tariffs would have a direct impact of US$200 million on AUO’s revenue, company chairman Paul Peng (彭雙浪) told reporters on the sidelines of the Touch Taiwan trade show in Taipei yesterday. That would make up about 12 percent of the company’s overall revenue. To cope with the tariff uncertainty, AUO plans to allocate its production to manufacturing facilities in
COLLABORATION: Given Taiwan’s key position in global supply chains, the US firm is discussing strategies with local partners and clients to deal with global uncertainties Advanced Micro Devices Inc (AMD) yesterday said it is meeting with local ecosystem partners, including Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電), to discuss strategies, including long-term manufacturing, to navigate uncertainties such as US tariffs, as Taiwan occupies an important position in global supply chains. AMD chief executive officer Lisa Su (蘇姿丰) told reporters that Taiwan is an important part of the chip designer’s ecosystem and she is discussing with partners and customers in Taiwan to forge strong collaborations on different areas during this critical period. AMD has just become the first artificial-intelligence (AI) server chip customer of TSMC to utilize its advanced
Chizuko Kimura has become the first female sushi chef in the world to win a Michelin star, fulfilling a promise she made to her dying husband to continue his legacy. The 54-year-old Japanese chef regained the Michelin star her late husband, Shunei Kimura, won three years ago for their Sushi Shunei restaurant in Paris. For Shunei Kimura, the star was a dream come true. However, the joy was short-lived. He died from cancer just three months later in June 2022. He was 65. The following year, the restaurant in the heart of Montmartre lost its star rating. Chizuko Kimura insisted that the new star is still down
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