Taiwan News
Date: 2016/11/07
By: Sophia Yang, Taiwan News, Staff Reporter

The Taiwan Futures Exchange (TAIFEX) has launched three new derivative contracts Monday designed to either tap the boom in the India market or offer a greater variety of hedging tools for investors or companies in Taiwan.

The three which made their debut today are Taiwan Dollar-denominated Nifty 50 Futures contract, EUR/USD FX Futures and USD/JPY FX Futures.

TAIFEX Nifty 50 futures is a New Taiwan Dollar denominated contract, which covers top 50 middle and large-size companies in India that altogether account for 64 percent of the National Stock Exchange of India’s (NSE) total free float market cap and provide investors more efficient access to the Indian capital markets. The Nifty 50 is also known as the world’s most traded options contract and has been listed across 17 countries and 19 exchanges globally.    [FULL  STORY]

Focus Taiwan
Date: 2016/11/07
By: Chiu Po-shen and Frances Huang

Taipei, Nov. 7 (CNA) Taiwan’s exports returned to positive growth in October, up more than 9 percent from a year earlier with the help of strong global demand for semiconductor products, government statistics showed Monday.

In October, Taiwan’s outbound sales totaled US$26.75 billion, up 9.4 percent from a year earlier, after they declined 1.8 percent year-on-year in September when typhoons battered the country and reduced the number of working days, the Ministry of Finance (MOF) said.

The MOF said the 9.4 percent rise included shipments deferred from September.

October export growth also benefited from a low base of comparison in 2015, and in fact numbers the October 2016 export figures were still slightly lower than the US$26.88 billion in exports in October 2014.    [FULL  STORY]

Focus Taiwan
Date: 2016/11/06
By: Yang Shu-min, Tsai Yi-chu and Lilian WU

Taipei, Nov. 6 (CNA) Taiwan’s business leaders said on Sunday that if Donald Trump is elected U.S.

president on Nov. 8, export-oriented Taiwan could be impacted by his anti-China stance.

The polls have shown that Republican Party candidate Trump and Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton are in a very tight race.

Lin Bo-feng (林伯豐), head of the Chinese National Association of Industry and Commerce, said that Taiwan and its relations with the three economic powerhouses of the United States, Japan and China will be directly impacted.

In contrast with Trump’s China bashing rhetoric, Clinton has not been as antagonistic to Beijing, Lin said. If Trump is elected and economic relations between the United States and China turn bad, it would have a knock-on effect on Taiwan.    [FULL  STORY]

Focus Taiwan
Date: 2016/11/05
By:1 Huang Chiao-wen and Frances Huang

Taipei, Nov. 5 (CNA) Almost 70 percent of department store customers in Taiwan use credit cards to pay for their purchases, a survey conducted by the Ministry of Economic Affairs (MOEA) showed on Saturday.

Citing the survey, the MOEA said that department store operators tend to work with credit card issuing banks, particularly for such events as store anniversaries and Mother’s Day, when special discounts are available to customers who pay with credit cards.

In addition, the ministry said consumers who makes large purchases pay with credit cards because of the convenience.

As a result, 66.1 percent of department store customers paid by credit card, followed by 26.1 percent who paid in cash and 5 percent who used store-issued vouchers, the MOEA said.    [FULL  STORY]

Focus Taiwan
Date: 2016/11/05
By: Jackson Chang and Frances Huang

Taipei, Oct. 5 (CNA) MediaTek Inc. (聯發科), a major integrated circuit designer in Taiwan, has agreed to

buy a stake in a Beijing-based map location service provider in a bid to strengthen its foothold in the automotive chip and the Internet of Vehicles (IoV) markets.

Through its subsidiary Gaintech Co., MediaTek said, the IC designer plans to spend up to US$100 million to take a 35 to 49 percent stake in Mapbar Technology Ltd. (BVI), which owns Beijing Mapbar Technology Co., Ltd.

Through the investment, MediaTek is expected to indirectly hold a stake in Beijing Mapbar. The investment is pending approval from the Investment Commission of Taiwan’s Ministry of Economic Affairs.

MediaTek said that Beijing Mapbar, which was set up in 2004, operates www.mapbar.com, which provides online map services in four municipalities in China.    [FULL  STORY]

Focus Taiwan
Date: 2016/11/05
By: Tien Yu-pin and Frances Huang

Taipei, Nov. 5 (CNA) The equity market in Taiwan provides investors with a wide range of exchange traded funds (ETFs), including leveraged and inverse ETFs, in a bid to help them pursue profits or hedge risks, according to the Taiwan Stock Exchange (TWSE).

In addition to ETFs that track equities, the TWSE, which operates the local main board, said existing ETF products also includes those that track the trading of commodities such as crude oil and gold. With the help of such a comprehensive ETF product line, investors have more flexibility on the trading floor, the TWSE added.

In 2015, Taiwan was the first market in the greater China area to launch ETFs that tracked movements in the price of crude oil and gold. Hong Kong followed suit this year when it introduced ETFs that track crude oil prices.

Moreover, in 2016, Taiwan unveiled leveraged and inverse ETFs to track commodities, indicating that the local equity market is leading the way in the development of an ETF market in the greater China area, the TWSE said.    [FULL  STORY]