Business Briefs

TAIEX rises slightly

Taiwanese shares gained 0.65 percent yesterday as investors hunted for bargains among shares likely to benefit from the expected opposition victory in weekend presidential elections, dealers said.

The weighted index closed up 52.36 points or 0.65 percent at 8,057.82, off a low of 7,955.48 and a high of 8,082.57, with NT$102.28 billion (US$3.3 billion) changing hands.

Risers led decliners 1,108 to 915, with 336 stocks remaining unchanged.

Eighteen stocks closed limit-up and 47 were limit-down.

UMC up after dividend plan

United Microelectronics Corp (UMC, 聯電), the world's second-largest custom-chip maker, rose the most in a month in Taipei trading after proposing an increase in the cash dividend for last year.

UMC gained 3.3 percent to NT$17.35 at the close of trade, the most since Feb. 14.

Hsinchu-based UMC plans to pay out NT$0.75 per share for last year, compared with NT$0.70 the year before.

It also plans to issue 45 new shares for each 1,000 held, the company said in a filing to the exchange on Monday.

CITIC drops Bear Stearns plan

China's CITIC Securities (中信證券) said yesterday it would pull out of an investment plan in Bear Stearns after the announcement that the troubled US bank was being sold at a fire-sale price to JPMorgan Chase.

"The foundation and premise for the strategic cooperation plan no longer exists," CITIC Securities said in a statement.

CITIC Securities said that the company has ceased all discussions with Bear Stearns on a cross-investment and cooperation plan and that the two companies would not sign any agreements in the future.

China to raise reserve ratio

China's central bank yesterday announced it would raise the amount of money that commercial banks must keep in reserve by half a percentage point as part of efforts to cool the economy.

The People's Bank of China said in a statement the bank reserve ratio would rise to 15.5 percent from Tuesday next week.

The rise is "in order to implement the requirements of tight monetary policy and continue to strengthen management of liquidity in the banking system and to guide the rational growth in money supply and credit," the bank said.

The increase, the second this year and the 12th since the beginning of last year, reduces the amount of money flowing through the economy.

China is trying to tame inflation that hit a 12-year high of 8.7 percent last month while cooling an economy that expanded by 11.4 percent last year.

SocGen trader to leave prison

A Paris court ruled yesterday that Jerome Kerviel, the trader accused of causing record losses at French bank Societe Generale, could leave prison pending investigation, lawyers attending the court session said.

In January, SocGen unveiled 4.9 billion euros (US$7.73 billion) of losses that it said were caused by rogue deals carried out by Kerviel, who had a junior trading position at the bank.

Kerviel has been placed under formal investigation for breach of trust, computer abuse and falsification. He was expected to leave prison late yesterday after being held for five weeks.

NT dollar gains ground

The New Taiwan dollar gained ground against the US dollar on the Taipei Foreign Exchange Tuesday, rising NT$0.103 to close at NT$30.747.

A total of US$1.14 billion changed hands yesterday.