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Business Briefs
STAFF WRITER, WITH AGENCIES
Friday, Feb 22, 2008, Page 11
Shares rally after Wall Street
Share prices closed 2.3 percent higher yesterday, tracking Wall Street's rally and expectations of more market-friendly measures locally ahead of next month's presidential vote, dealers said.
The weighted index closed up 191.46 points at the day's high of 8,085.93, off a low of 7,972.13, on turnover of NT$120.3 billion (US$3.81billion).
Risers led decliners 1,599 to 321, with 340 stocks unchanged.
"Increasingly investors are reacting more to positive than negative leads," said Taiwan Life Asset Management (关玂щ獺) assistant vice president Michael Hsu (�?@).
The local bourse is on track for a recovery since bottoming out late last month, he said.
Hsu said he expected the US subprime turmoil to gradually subside, probably after Wall Street firms report their results for this quarter.
Local technology companies should start to show signs of a business uptick from the second quarter, he said.
FAT planning share sales
Far Eastern Air Transport Corp (FAT, 环) said yesterday it planned to sell its shares in TransAsia Airways (確砍) and another Kaohsiung-based company, aiming to raise at least NT$170 million (US$5.4 million) to repay part of its debts.
The financially troubled airline said it was engaged in talks with potential investors to help it return to health, company spokesperson Hanson Chang (眎Τ狟) told reporters at the Taiwan Stock Exchange yesterday, without giving details.
The company is scheduled to hold a shareholders' meeting on April 11 to discuss the matter, he said.
ING's premium income surges
ING Life Taiwan (关) said yesterday that its first-year premium income (FYI) last month tripled to NT$6.4 billion (US$203 million) from the same period last year.
"The 317 percent year-on-year growth in FYI last month made ING the third best-performing insurer after Cathay Life Insurance Co (瓣关) and Fubon Life Assurance Co (碔ü关)," ING senior vice president C.F. Chang (眎褐) told reporters.
He expressed confidence in the insurer's sales in the coming year as its newly launched structured note-related insurance products were competitive.
Marking its 20th anniversary this year, ING will beef up its management and sales skills to better serve the company's policyholders, chief executive officer John Wylie said yesterday.
The company will also reinforce its bancassurance services by partnering with local banks, Wylie said.
Chunghwa cancels shares
Asset-rich Chunghwa Telecom Co (い地筿獺), the nation's biggest telecom operator, yesterday canceled 110 million shares, or 1.14 percent of its total of 9.67 billion shares, to optimize returns for investors.
The share cancelation was approved by the board and took effect yesterday.
Chunghwa Telecom was to cancel 110 million shares from the repurchased 121 million shares for NT$7.22 billion during the two-month period ending Oct. 28 last year.
The phone company said it plans to buy more shares back at the proper time this year.
NT dollar advances
The New Taiwan dollar yesterday gained NT$0.127 to close at NT$31.521 against the US dollar on turnover of US$1.251 billion.
Following yesterday's 0.4 percent gain, the NT dollar has gained 2.9 percent this year, the best performer among the 10 most-actively traded Asian currencies outside Japan.
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