TAIEX climbs on land opening
Shares rose slightly yesterday, led by construction and property firms, after the Taipei City Government decided to open up more land for development.
The TAIEX rose 44.52 points, or 0.7 percent, to 6,946.27 on turnover of NT$81.63 billion (US$2.47 billion).
Dealers said the city government's move would increase the supply of land and reduce costs for developers.
Overall, the TAIEX had 670 gainers and 398 decliners with 172 stocks closing unchanged.
Chunghwa shares to go on sale
The Ministry of Finance yesterday said it would auction off 120 million shares of state-run Chunghwa Telecom Co (中華電信) to domestic investors after the stock market closes this afternoon. Each investor will be able to buy a maximum of 2,000 shares. The floor price, which will be announced at 3:30pm today, will be lower than the closing price by at least 4 percent, Deputy Minister of Finance Liu Teng-cheng (劉燈城) said.
Chunghwa will also sell 505.39 million shares in the form of American Depositary Receipts (ADRs) overseas. The final ADR price will be announced at 4:30am tomorrow, Liu said.
Economy turns `yellow-blue'
The monitoring indicators used to gauge Taiwan's economic activity flashed a "yellow-blue light" last month, signaling an economic slowdown for the third consecutive month, the Council for Economic Planning and Development (CEPD) said yesterday.
The three "yellow-blue lights" in a row reversed the steady growth posted in the previous 10 months, the CEPD said.
The index of leading indicators for last month stood at 110.3 points, down 0.2 percent from July, when they registered a revised 0.3 percent month-on-month decrease, the council said.
The original July reading for the index of leading indicators, which is used as a gauge for the economy's direction in the coming months, was a 0.5 percent month-on-month decline.
Taoyuan hub sixth in Asia cargo
Cargo traffic at Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport totaled 1.71 million tonnes last year, leading to a ranking of No. 6 in Asia and No. 13 worldwide, according to figures given yesterday by the Directorate General of Budget, Accounting and Statistics (DGBAS).
Memphis International Airport in the US topped the list with cargo traffic of 3.6 million tonnes, followed by Hong Kong International Airport with 3.43 million metric tons, DGBAS said.
Rounding out the top-five list were the US' Ted Stevens Anchorage International Airport in Alaska, Japan's Narita International Airport and South Korea's Incheon International Airport, the officials said.
In Asia, the top six airports in terms of cargo traffic last year were Hong Kong International Airport, Narita International Airport, Incheon International Airport, China's Pudong International Airport, Singapore's Changi Airport and Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport, they said.
Nokia bags Taiwan Mobile order
Nokia Oyj, the world's largest maker of mobile phones, announced that it had won an order to expand the wireless network of Taiwan Mobile Co (台灣大哥大).
Nokia will provide Taiwan's second-largest mobile-phone company with gear that allows faster data speeds, the Finland-based company said in an e-mailed release yesterday.
New Taiwan dollar dips
The New Taiwan dollar lost ground against its US counterpart yesterday, dropping NT$0.018 to close at NT$32.958 on the Taipei foreign exchange market.
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