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Shares lower, NT dollar higher
Shares closed 1.01 percent lower yesterday as investors chose to lock in profits after heavy overnight losses on Wall Street spelled an end to a seven-day rally, dealers said.
The pullback did not surprise investors, who had expected a correction after sustained gains pushed the benchmark index above the 9,000 points level to seven-year highs, they said.
The TAIEX was down 93.78 points at 9,290.95, on turnover of NT$220.24 billion (US$6.74 billion).
On the foreign exchange market, the New Taiwan dollar rose on central bank's selling US dollar and a rising yen, dealers said.
The local currency surged as much as 0.6 percent to NT$32.550 per US dollar and closed at NT$32.734 on the Taipei Forex Inc. Turnover was US$866 million.

Cardholders to withdraw yen
Visa International and MasterCard Worldwide yesterday announced that their cardholders worldwide will be able to use their cards to make cash withdrawals in Japanese yen at any one of Seven Bank's 12,000 ATMs, located mainly at 7-Eleven convenience stores, tourist destinations or near well-known hotels within Japan. Each Seven Bank ATM will offer different language options, including English, Korean, Chinese and Portuguese.
Most ATMs in Japan, aside from those of Japan Post, a few banks and credit card companies, did not allow yen withdrawals to be made with overseas-issued credit cards since these ATMs are based on Japan-specific standards. Now Seven Bank's ATMs have been reconfigured in line with international standards to offer consumers greater convenience.

Morgan Stanley seeks approval
Morgan Stanley is seeking approval from the Investment Commission to buy a stake in Chinatrust Financial Holding Co (中信金控), the commission's deputy executive secretary, Emile Chang (張銘斌), said yesterday.
``Usually only long-term investments, as opposed to short-term portfolio investment, will come to us for approval,'' Chang said.
The commission received the application in late June, Chang said.

`Ta Chong rating not affected'
Taiwan Ratings Corp (中華信評), the local arm of Standard & Poor's Ratings Services, said yesterday that its ratings on Ta Chong Bank (大眾銀行) would not be immediately affected by the proposed capital injection by Carlyle Group.
There is potential for positive implications on Ta Chong's risk profile, only if the bank can effectively leverage these new resources to improve its core earning ability, while consistently maintaining adequate capitalization, Taiwan Ratings said in a statement.

Lehman appoints strategist
Lehman Brothers said yesterday it has appointed Paul Schulte as chief regional equity strategist for Asia ex-Japan, of the global investment bank.
The application reflects the company's commitment to build up equity research platform in Asia, Lehman Brothers said in a statement.

Citigroup to join Tokyo SE
Citigroup Inc will list its shares on the Tokyo Stock Exchange as part of its efforts to expand in the world's second-largest economy, the company said yesterday.
Citigroup, which bought Japan's third-largest retail brokerage Nikko Cordial Corp earlier this year, has decided to pursue a listing of its shares in Japan as soon as it gets TSE approval, according to Citigroup spokeswoman Mika Nemoto.
The listing demonstrates the US bank's commitment to Japan and confidence in the Japanese economy, Nemoto said.

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