■ Shares close higher
Taiwan share prices closed 1.11 percent higher yesterday as bargain-hunting gained momentum in late trade despite concerns ahead of today's vote on whether President Chen Shui-bian's (陳水扁) future should be determined by a referendum, dealers said.
They said technical factors provided support after recent heavy losses, with the market apparently accepting that there is little chance Chen will be ousted.
The weighted index added 71.37 points at 6,523.68, off a low of 6,448.51 and a high of 6,548.94, on turnover of NT$68.85 billion (US$2.11 billion).
"Investors [who are] bolder than others decided it was time for buying as the political uncertainty is about to be largely resolved soon," SinoPac Securities (建華證券) assistant vice president Alvin Teng (鄧可欣) said.
"Our rebound also coincided with a more bullish note across the region," he said. "The Fed's rate hike by another quarter of a percentage point later this week must have been priced in after the recent pull-back."
■ Trident REIT rated `twA-'
Taiwan Ratings Corp (中華信評), the local arm of Standard & Poor's Ratings Services, assigned yesterday a "twA-" long-term rating and "twA-2" short-term rating with a stable outlook on Trident Real Estate Investment Trust (REIT), following the derivative's listing on the Taiwan Stock Exchange yesterday.
Trident REIT, issued by Lehman Brothers, is the first real estate securitization product issued by a foreign securities house in Taiwan.
The ratings reflect the strength of the securitization product's satisfactory property portfolio, which amounted to NT$3.8 billion in its start-up phase and included an office building, part of a retail building in Taipei City and part of a warehouse in Nankan, Taoyuan County, Taiwan Ratings said.
Good locations as well as high and stable occupancy rates of its three properties in recent years lead to limited competition for Trident REIT, Taiwan Ratings said.
Trident REIT closed up 0.3 percent at NT$10.03 on the exchange on the first trading day yesterday.
■ TransAsia buys two jets
TransAsia Airways (復興航空) has signed an agreement to purchase two ATR 72-500s from Europe-based ATR with the option for one more in a deal worth US$53.7 million, a TransAsia spokeswoman said yesterday.
"The two 72-seat ATR 72-500s will serve TransAsia's domestic routes," the spokeswoman said, adding deliveries are scheduled for April and December respectively next year.
She said TransAsia would decide whether to take up the option on a third jet in 2008.
TransAsia, which also offers cargo and passenger services to Macau and South Korea, operates 18 aircraft, including seven ATR 72-500s, three ATR 72-200s and eight Airbus 320/321s.
■ Inotera gets `overweight' rating
Inotera Memories Inc (華亞科技), a maker of dynamic random access memory (DRAM), was initiated at "overweight" by Morgan Stanley, which cited strong cost control at the company.
Inotera "is setting new benchmarks in the DRAM market in terms of production ramp-up and state-of-the art facilities," Morgan Stanley said in an e-mailed report yesterday. The company set a price target of NT$43 for Inotera.
Shares of Inotera closed 2.6 percent higher at NT$29.35 in Taipei.
■ NT dollar declines
The NT dollar lost ground against the US dollar on the Taipei Foreign Exchange yesterday, declining NT$0.013 to close at NT$32.729 on a turnover of US$588 million.
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