■FINANCE
Roth calls for cooperation
Central banks around the world should coordinate more in times of crises to prevent financial groups from looking outside national boundaries for assistance, the head of Switzerland’s central bank said in an interview published yesterday. Speaking to the Financial Times, Jean-Pierre Roth said that while such cooperation was not currently underway, it was “important to be aware of the question.” “We have to think about eliminating differences and coordinating more,” the chairman of the Swiss National Bank told the business daily. “It would be very delicate for us to have a Swiss bank that required a massive credit not knocking on our door, but knocking on the door somewhere else,” he said.
■ENERGY
Oil prices fall to US$112.39
World oil prices fell further yesterday, dragged down by worries that weaker US oil demand could spread to Europe and Japan, analysts said. New York’s main contract, light sweet crude for delivery next month, dropped US$0.48 to US$112.39 a barrel. That came on top of a US$0.90 drop in New York trade on Monday, when the price closed at US$112.87 at the end of floor trading. Brent North Sea crude for October delivery fell US$0.58 to US$111.36 after settling US$0.61 lower at US$111.94 a barrel on Monday in London.
■ECONOMY
UBS forecasts US recession
The US is likely to slip into recession in the coming months as the cushioning impact of sharp interest rate cuts and tax rebates wears out, UBS bank economists said yesterday. “Sharp cuts in interest rates and tax rebates have prevented the US economy from sliding into recession until now,” UBS said in a statement. “But the economists of UBS Wealth Management now expect the effects of fiscal concessions to peter out in the second half of the year, leaving the US economy facing the inevitable prospect of recession.” Real economic growth in the US is expected to reach 1.3 percent this year, but just 1.0 percent next year.
■TECHNOLOGY
Softbank to buy from Casio
Softbank Corp, Japan’s third-largest mobile-phone operator, said yesterday it will buy handsets from Casio Computer Co. Softbank, based in Tokyo, will start selling the phones by the end of this year, the two companies said in a statement yesterday. A joint venture between Casio and Hitachi Ltd will make the handsets, they said. Casio, the maker of mobile phones equipped with Exilim camera technology, already supplies KDDI Corp, the second-ranked wireless operator in Japan.
■HONG KONG
Tom Group falls to HK$0.36
Tom Group Ltd, the media company controlled by billionaire Li Ka-shing (李嘉誠), fell to a record in Hong Kong trading after saying its first-half loss widened. Tom Group declined 6.4 percent to HK$0.36 (US$0.046) at 10:12am on the Hong Kong stock exchange, the lowest since the company moved its listing to the main board from the Growth Enterprise Market in August 2004. The net loss expanded to HK$547 million (US$70 million), from a restated HK$85 million a year earlier, the company said. Sales fell to HK$1.33 billion from HK$1.35 billion. Tom Group shares have declined 42 percent this year, compared with a drop of 25 percent in the city’s benchmark Hang Seng Index.
A Chinese freighter that allegedly snapped an undersea cable linking Taiwan proper to Penghu County is suspected of being owned by a Chinese state-run company and had docked at the ports of Kaohsiung and Keelung for three months using different names. On Tuesday last week, the Togo-flagged freighter Hong Tai 58 (宏泰58號) and its Chinese crew were detained after the Taipei-Penghu No. 3 submarine cable was severed. When the Coast Guard Administration (CGA) first attempted to detain the ship on grounds of possible sabotage, its crew said the ship’s name was Hong Tai 168, although the Automatic Identification System (AIS)
An Akizuki-class destroyer last month made the first-ever solo transit of a Japan Maritime Self-Defense Force ship through the Taiwan Strait, Japanese government officials with knowledge of the matter said yesterday. The JS Akizuki carried out a north-to-south transit through the Taiwan Strait on Feb. 5 as it sailed to the South China Sea to participate in a joint exercise with US, Australian and Philippine forces that day. The Japanese destroyer JS Sazanami in September last year made the Japan Maritime Self-Defense Force’s first-ever transit through the Taiwan Strait, but it was joined by vessels from New Zealand and Australia,
SECURITY: The purpose for giving Hong Kong and Macau residents more lenient paths to permanent residency no longer applies due to China’s policies, a source said The government is considering removing an optional path to citizenship for residents from Hong Kong and Macau, and lengthening the terms for permanent residence eligibility, a source said yesterday. In a bid to prevent the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) from infiltrating Taiwan through immigration from Hong Kong and Macau, the government could amend immigration laws for residents of the territories who currently receive preferential treatment, an official familiar with the matter speaking on condition of anonymity said. The move was part of “national security-related legislative reform,” they added. Under the amendments, arrivals from the Chinese territories would have to reside in Taiwan for
CRITICAL MOVE: TSMC’s plan to invest another US$100 billion in US chipmaking would boost Taiwan’s competitive edge in the global market, the premier said The government would ensure that the most advanced chipmaking technology stays in Taiwan while assisting Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) in investing overseas, the Presidential Office said yesterday. The statement follows a joint announcement by the world’s largest contract chipmaker and US President Donald Trump on Monday that TSMC would invest an additional US$100 billion over the next four years to expand its semiconductor manufacturing operations in the US, which would include construction of three new chip fabrication plants, two advanced packaging facilities, and a research and development center. The government knew about the deal in advance and would assist, Presidential
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