Shares in Taiwan pulled back Friday from the gains of the previous session as the market encountered stiff technical resistance ahead of 8,400 points, dealers said.

The U.S. dollar rose against the New Taiwan dollar Friday, gaining NT$0.01 to close at NT$30.060 as the local central bank entered the trading floor again to prop up the greenback and help the currency reverse its early gains, dealers said.

Malaysia's UMW Holdings plans to sell 39 percent of its oil and gas unit in an initial public offering this year that could raise up to US$1 billion, a source said Friday.

China's private sector wages in urban areas grew 17.1 percent in 2012, official figures showed Friday, even as the country's economy expanded at its slowest pace in 13 years.

Shares in Taiwan closed higher on expanded turnover yesterday as investors had high hopes that the government will revise the capital gains tax on stock investments by exempting retailer investors from the levy, dealers said.

The Executive Yuan rolled out economic sanctions against the Philippines, which Economic Affairs Minister Chang Chia-juch (張家祝) said will not affect Taiwan's economy in the short term, though the nation's imports and exports will take a hit in the long run.

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.