■ TAIEX closes slightly down
Share prices closed 0.23 percent lower yesterday following Wall Street's mixed performance, with investors remaining cautious due to a lack of positive economic and industry leads, dealers said.
They said there was some relief that foreign investors had returned as net buyers on Tuesday but this needs to be confirmed as a sustained change of stance for it to provide support.
The TAIEX closed down 13.67 points at 5,931.38, on turnover of NT$65.77 billion (US$1.98 billion).
"The local bourse should be considered as doing all right" as it tries to bottom out, said Tu Jin-lung (杜金龍), chairman of Grand Cathay Investment Services Corp (大華投顧).
Pressure on large-cap stocks has kept investors sidelined due to lingering concerns about the stance of foreign investors, Tu said.
"Recent reports that the government may decide on some measures to stimulate the economy helped curtail pressure on the bourse," he said.
■ Banks win higher debt ratings
A total of 18 Asian banks including five Taiwanese lenders won higher debt ratings from Standard & Poor's, which said US$500 billion of state aid since the 1997 currency crisis has improved their finances.
The lenders all now have a higher rating than before the region-wide currency devaluations eight years ago, which may help them attract investors to planned bond and stock sales.
The long-term ratings of Chiao Tung Bank (交通銀行), Chinatrust Commercial Bank (中國信託銀行), First Commercial Bank Ltd (第一商銀), International Commercial Bank of China (ICBC, 中國商銀) and Land Bank of Taiwan (土地銀行) were raised. The short-term ratings of Chiao Tung, ICBC and Land Bank were also raised.
Taiwan's government is expected to remain committed to maintaining a stable financial system after demonstrating a track record of bailing out distressed financial institutions, and are establishing a supportive legal system, S&P said.
■ E United plans huge tower
E United Group (義聯) plans to build an iron tower which, because it will stand on a hill in Kaohsiung County, will probably become the world's "third-tallest" tower, the company announced yesterday.
The company has selected the British Richard Rogers Partners firm to design the 300m tower, project head Lin Chun-sheng said.
"Since the tower will stand on the 150 meter Kuanyin Hill, its height from the sea level will be 450 meters," Lin said.
That will make it the world's third-tallest tower after the 540m Ostankino TV Tower in Moscow and the 553m CN Tower in Toronto. Construction will begin next year and be completed in 2008.
■ BenQ to keep supplier
BenQ Corp (明基), which bought Siemens' mobile phone handsets business in June, will keep semi-conductors giant Infineon Tech-nologies AG as a long-term supplier, chairman Lee Kun-yao (李焜耀) said in a newspaper interview published yesterday.
Analysts had speculated that BenQ might switch to Taiwanese suppliers such as MediaTek Inc (聯發科技) to cut costs once it had completed its acquisition of Siemens's handsets business.
But Lee told the Financial Times that BenQ would keep Infineon as a "major supplier," even if the terms of the contract changed.
"In the past, there have been many Infineon technologies developed uniquely for Siemens. Now we want to use their standard platform," he said.
■ NT dollar unchanged
The New Taiwan dollar closed unchanged at NT$33.282 against the US dollar on the Taipei foreign exchange market yesterday. Turnover was US$820 million, up from US$746 million on Tuesday.
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