December is a busy season due to students shopping for items before traveling abroad to study, prompting a jump in online sales of electronic products.

Taiwan's currency has strengthened against the South Korean won, the island's central bank said, adding that the two economies compete with one another for exports.

Taiwan's dollar dropped for a third day, its longest losing streak of the month, after the central bank said it will intervene if irregular factors cause excessive currency volatility. Bonds were little changed.

Taiwan's current-account surplus widened in the third quarter as imports declined. The surplus expanded to US$8.24 billion in the three months to Sept. 30 from a revised US$2.06 billion a year earlier, the central bank said in a statement in Taipei.

The Merrill Lynch Group yesterday raised its forecast for Taiwan's gross domestic product for this year to a minus 3.4 growth rate from an earlier forecast of a negative 5 percent.

President Ma Ying-jeou said yesterday that the Economic Cooperation Framework Agreement (ECFA) won't be put into practice if the contents of the pact fails to clear the legislative floor.

Vice President Vincent Siew said yesterday that the biotech and medical care industries will play a critical role in Taiwan's economic development.

The government will adopt a policy of increasing supply of apartments on the market rather than using financial or other measures to stem the continuing rise in housing prices.

Taiwan's economics ministry denied a newspaper report that it rejected an application submitted by a group led by Primus Financial Holdings Ltd. to buy the local unit of American International Group Inc.

Perng Fai-nan, governor of Taiwan's Central Bank, ruled out Thursday the possibility for him to work in the private sector after retirement, although his pay is relatively low compared with the central bankers of major countries.