■ Stock
Shanghai mulls new rules
The Shanghai Stock Exchange is mulling a proposal to widen the daily trading band as a first step before eventually scrapping the limit altogether, state press reported yesterday. Daily price volatility for Shanghai-listed firms would increase to 20 percent, double the current trading limit of 10 percent on either side of the opening bid, the Shanghai Securities News said, citing a study by the bourse. Eventually the trading limit will be scrapped in favor of a "circuit-breaker" or collar system, a measure commonly used by stock exchanges during large sell-offs to avert panic selling, the newspaper said.
■ Insurance
Australia allows merger
An Australian court granted final approval yesterday for a A$7.9 billion (US$6.2 billion) merger of banking and insurance firm Suncorp-Metway with general insurer Promina Group, Suncorp said. Suncorp said the Federal Court had approved a scheme of arrangement between the two companies, giving the green light to the biggest deal in Australia's financial services sector in six years. The merger will create a A$20 billion diversified financial services company that will be Australia's second-largest general insurance firm after Insurance Australia Group Ltd.
■ Steel
China rejects Mittal bid
China has rejected a bid by Arcelor Mittal, the world's largest steel maker, for a stake in Laiwu Steel Corp (萊蕪鋼鐵), state media said yesterday even as the Chinese company denied the report. The National Development and Reform Commission, China's top planning agency, turned down the proposal because it thought the price was too low and was worried about technology transfer, the China Daily said. However, an executive at Laiwu Steel told reporters no decision had been made yet on the deal with Luxembourg-based Arcelor Mittal. In February last year, Arcelor Mittal agreed to buy a 37.3-percent stake in Laiwu Steel for US$258 million.
■ Pharmacies
Alliance rejects takeover
Alliance Boots PLC, Britain's largest chain of pharmacies, rejected a ?9.7 billion (US$18.7 billion) takeover proposal on Monday from a private equity group. Alliance Boots said the US$19.32 per share offer from Kohlberg Kravis Roberts & Co and its largest shareholder, Italian billionaire Stefano Pessina, undervalued the business and its prospects. The company's board held an emergency meeting on Monday to discuss the friendly approach, lodged after the London Stock Exchange closed on Friday.
■ Electronics
Dalian Intel plant approved
Intel Corp has received approval to build a US$2.5 billion (euro1.9 billion) chip plant in China, the government said yesterday. The factory is planned for the northeastern city of Dalian, the National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC), the country's top economic planning agency, said on its Web site. The Intel factory approved for Dalian would use advanced 90-nanometer technology, the NDRC said. Intel has 6,000 employees in China and factories in Shanghai and Chengdu. The Intel facility in Dalian would be one of China's biggest single foreign-financed projects if the company invested the full US$2.5 billion cited in the government announcement.
UPDATED (3:40pm): A suspected gas explosion at a shopping mall in Taichung this morning has killed four people and injured 20 others, as emergency responders continue to investigate. The explosion occurred on the 12th floor of the Shin Kong Mitsukoshi in Situn District (西屯) at 11:33am. One person was declared dead at the scene, while three people were declared deceased later after receiving emergency treatment. Another 20 people sustained major or minor injuries. The Taichung Fire Bureau said it received a report of the explosion at 11:33am and sent rescuers to respond. The cause of the explosion is still under investigation, it said. The National Fire
ACCOUNTABILITY: The incident, which occured at a Shin Kong Mitsukoshi Department Store in Taichung, was allegedly caused by a gas explosion on the 12th floor Shin Kong Group (新光集團) president Richard Wu (吳昕陽) yesterday said the company would take responsibility for an apparent gas explosion that resulted in four deaths and 26 injuries at Shin Kong Mitsukoshi Zhonggang Store in Taichung yesterday. The Taichung Fire Bureau at 11:33am yesterday received a report saying that people were injured after an explosion at the department store on Section 3 of Taiwan Boulevard in Taichung’s Situn District (西屯). It sent 56 ambulances and 136 paramedics to the site, with the people injured sent to Cheng Ching Hospital’s Chung Kang Branch, Wuri Lin Shin Hospital, Taichung Veterans General Hospital or Chung
ALL-IN-ONE: A company in Tainan and another in New Taipei City offer tours to China during which Taiwanese can apply for a Chinese ID card, the source said The National Immigration Agency and national security authorities have identified at least five companies that help Taiwanese apply for Chinese identification cards while traveling in China, a source said yesterday. The issue has garnered attention in the past few months after YouTuber “Pa Chiung” (八炯) said that there are companies in Taiwan that help Taiwanese apply for Chinese documents. Minister of the Interior Liu Shyh-fang (劉世芳) last week said that three to five public relations firms in southern and northern Taiwan have allegedly assisted Taiwanese in applying for Chinese ID cards and were under investigation for potential contraventions of the Act Governing
‘LAWFUL USE’: The last time a US warship transited the Taiwan Strait was on Oct. 20 last year, and this week’s transit is the first of US President Donald Trump’s second term Two US military vessels transited the Taiwan Strait from Sunday through early yesterday, the Ministry of National Defense said in a statement, the first such mission since US President Donald Trump took office last month. The two vessels sailed south through the Strait, the ministry said, adding that it closely monitored nearby airspace and waters at the time and observed nothing unusual. The ministry did not name the two vessels, but the US Navy identified them as the Arleigh Burke-class guided-missile destroyer USS Ralph Johnson and the Pathfinder-class survey ship USNS Bowditch. The ships carried out a north-to-south transit from