Japan's economy expanded at a rapid clip at the start of the year, the first hard evidence that Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's sweeping stimulus is beginning to rouse consumers and businesses into action even as risks loomed in the horizon.

Tourists scheduled to visit the Philippines could suffer huge losses if they canceled their trips based on a high-level travel alert issued by the Taiwan government, local travel agents said Thursday, indicating that the sanctions against the Southeast Asian country might hurt Taiwan's travel sector.

The U.S. dollar rose against the New Taiwan dollar Thursday, gaining NT$0.022 to close at the day's high of NT$30.050 as the greenback recovered from its early losses with the help of the local central bank, dealers said.

The Tourism Bureau announced yesterday that all domestic travel agencies are banned from taking any tour groups to the Philippines after the Executive Yuan recently announced a “red” travel alert against the Philippines, one of eight second-stage sanctions issued against the Philippines over the shooting of a local fisherman in disputed waters.

In another push to elevate its international presence, Kaohsiung is hosting the biennial Asia-Pacific Cities Summit (APCS, 亞太城市高峰會), the second major event since the 2009 International World Games to come to town.

President Ma Ying-jeou praised the potential of the Taiwanese-European economy and encouraged Taiwan to pursue a steady trade relationship with European countries during the Europe Day Dinner held by the European Chamber of Commerce yesterday.

The number of workers on furlough in Taiwan has dropped by 25 percent to 1,177 in the past two weeks, according to statistics released by the Council of Labor Affairs yesterday.

Taiwan's central bank is unlikely to adjust interest rates in the short term even in the face of a weakening Japanese yen, according to Australia and New Zealand Banking Group Ltd. (ANZ).

The first stock gains tax review meeting was held yesterday evening, and the review team produced a new tax version which removes the 8,500-point market barrier and charges 0.1 percent on transactions over NT$1 billion.

Japan's three largest banks on Wednesday reported healthy annual profits driven by their overseas operations, reduced costs and investment gains, but warned over the outlook for this year.