Focus Taiwan
Date: 2015/09/15
By: Frances Huang

Taipei, Sept. 15 (CNA) Shares in Taiwan closed below the 8,300 point mark Tuesday with the bellwether electronics sector in focus, while select old economy stocks attracted rotational buying to lend some support to the broader market, dealers said.

Market sentiment remained cautious, keeping many investors on the sidelines and dragging down turnover ahead of a policymaking meeting scheduled by the U.S. Federal Reserve for Sept. 16-17, the dealers said.

The weighted index on the Taiwan Stock Exchange closed down 47.30 points, or 0.56 percent, at 8,259.99, after moving between 8,226.07 and 8,327.95 on turnover of NT$68.59 billion (US$2.10 billion).     [FULL  STORY]

Want China Times
Dated: 2015-09-15
By: Xinhua

Ant Financial, Alibaba’s financial service affiliate, is set to buy a 1.2 billion yuan (US$188

million) controlling stake in Cathay Insurance, the company said on Monday.

The agreement, which will see Zhejiang Ant Small & Micro Financial Services Group holding 60% in the mainland unit of Taipei-based Cathay Financial Holdings, is waiting to be approved by the government. It is expected to be finished within the year.

The deal will allow Ant Financial to expand its range of products.

Cathay Financial is one of Taiwan’s largest financial holdings groups, covering insurance, securities, banking and other diversified financial institutions.

Ant Financial runs China’s most popular online payment platform, Alipay.     [FULL  STORY]

Focus Taiwan
Date: 2015/09/14
By: Yang Shu-min and Romulo Huang

Taipei, Sept. 14 (CNA) Taiwan is willing to share its experiences in revitalizing rural

economies with other countries, said Council of Agriculture (COA) chief Chen Bao-ji on Monday.

Speaking to representatives of a mission in Taiwan for five days to study rural revitalization, Chen said Taiwan has run a program to bring new vitality to rural economies since 2010 that hopes to attract 4,000 rural villages to the program within 10 years.

He said 2,000 rural villages are already participating in the project, which is aimed at encouraging Taiwan’s youth to engage in agriculture through a series of incentives.     [FULL  STORY]

Want China Times
Date: 2015-09-14
By: CNA

The global market for major domestic appliances posted negative growth in the first six

months of 2015, but key markets in the Asia-Pacific region, including Taiwan, turned in an overall positive performance.

From January to June this year, the Asia-Pacific region reported a 1% increase in the sales volume and a 2% increase in the sales value of refrigerators, washing machines and air conditioners, market research firm GfK Group said in a Sept. 10 report.

According to the group’s findings, global sales of major domestic appliances by volume were down 1% but revenue surged 9%.

GfK said Asia-Pacific countries generally reported demand growth of between 1%-34% for major domestic appliance sectors. The only exceptions were South Korea, Malaysia and New Zealand, where sales volume declined by 7%, 4% and 4%, respectively.     [FULL  STORY]

Focus Taiwan
Date: 2015/09/13
By: Chiu Po-shen and Evelyn Kao

Taipei, Sept. 13 (CNA) Domestic gasoline and diesel prices will fall by NT$0.3 (US$0.009)

and NT$0.4 per liter, respectively, on Monday to reflect a decline in international crude oil prices over the past week, suppliers said Sunday.

State-owned CPC Corp. Taiwan (中油) announced it will cut gasoline prices by NT$0.3 per liter and diesel prices by NT$0.4 per liter after increasing prices by NT$1.0 per liter for gasoline and NT$1.2 per liter for diesel last week, the highest weekly price increase in six months.

After the reductions, the new prices will be NT$20.9 per liter for super diesel, and NT$23.1, NT$24.6 and NT$26.5 per liter for 92, 95 and 98 octane unleaded gasoline, respectively, according to the company.     [FULL  STORY]

Want China Times
Date: 2015-09-13
By: CNA

One out of every two users of mobile devices in Taiwan and Hong Kong are using

big-screen phones, outperforming the worldwide average for phablet take-up, according to research by Yahoo’s mobile analytics unit Flurry.

The Flurry Analytics report released on Sept. 10, which tracks 720,000 apps across 2 billion mobile devices, said the phablet is expected to become a mainstream mobile category in the near future, with active users of phablets already accounting for 50% of active mobile device users in the pioneering Asian phablet markets of Taiwan and Hong Kong.

An active user is defined by Flurry Analytics as one who has spent time using mobile devices or apps on a daily, weekly or monthly basis.

Flurry Analytics also found that active users of phablets — defined as phones with screen sizes between 5-6.9 inches, like Apple’s iPhone 6 Plus and Samsung’s Galaxy Note series — accounted for 20% of worldwide active mobile users in March this year, compared with only 6% in January last year.     [FULL  STORY]