■ Profit-taking keeps lid on gains
Shares closed 0.30 percent higher yesterday but profit-taking kept a lid on intraday gains driven by another record Wall Street finish and the US Federal Reserve's comments that inflation does not seem to be a growing concern, dealers said.
With concerns about the US monetary policy out of the way for now, the bourse is likely to focus on a further string of quarterly corporate earnings, they said.
The TAIEX was up 20.95 points at 7,080.84, on turnover of NT$89.60 billion (US$2.69 billion).
Decliners led risers 573 to 498, with 207 stocks unchanged.
■ Fubon Financial revises profit
Fubon Financial Holding Co (富邦金控) revised up its January-last month profit to NT$5.39 billion from an earlier stated NT$4.85 billion, the company said in a statement yesterday. The latest figure represented a 57 percent decline from a year earlier, when nine-month profit was NT$12.6 billion.
Fubon Financial attributed the profit decline to an increase of NT$8.8 billion in bad-loan provisions in the first nine months compared with a year earlier.
The negative impact of the bad loans will be gradually eased from the fourth quarter, and Fubon Financial will gradually return to normal profitability, it said.
Third-quarter net income fell to NT$1.74 billion, down 69 percent from NT$5.64 billion a year earlier, according to the company.
■ NT dollar rises
The New Taiwan dollar traded higher against its US counterpart, rising NT$0.051 to close at NT$33.265 on the Taipei Forex Inc. Turnover was US$753 million.
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