TAIEX up 0.19 percent
Taiwanese shares closed up 0.19 percent yesterday in thin trade as bargain-hunting offset earlier falls over Wall Street’s overnight decline, dealers said.
The weighted index closed 15.79 points higher at 8,217.58, off a low of 8,148.61 and a high of 8,253.85 on turnover of NT$82.31 billion (US$2.72 billion).
Risers led decliners 1,470 to 752, with 461 stocks unchanged.
A total of 37 stocks closed limit-up and 20 were limit-down.
Michael Hsu (許派一), an analyst at Taiwan Life Asset Management (台壽保投信), expected thin volume for the rest of this month amid lingering concerns over inflation and its impact on global markets.
China Steel plant back online
China Steel Corp (中鋼), Taiwan’s biggest maker of the metal, expects production at its No. 1 blast furnace to resume tomorrow after being shut for 12 days because of a faulty cooling box.
The company has started heating the plant, spokesman Chung Le-min (鍾樂民) said by telephone yesterday from Kaohsiung, where China Steel is based. The mill lost output of between 100,000 tonnes and 150,000 tonnes of steel slabs, he said.
China Steel, which can produce 11 million tonnes of crude steel a year, will import steel slabs after drawing on inventories during the closure, Chung said. Rising demand for steel in Taiwan enabled China Steel to announce an 18 percent price increase for the third quarter.
“There’ll be a small amount of products tomorrow,” Chung said. “It will probably take about a week for the blast furnace to return to full capacity.”
Legal problems in China
More than 42 percent of Taiwanese businesses have experienced problems communicating with Chinese authorities when encountering investment disputes in China, the results of a survey released yesterday by Taiwan’s General Chamber of Commerce (全國商業總會) showed.
The survey showed that 90.35 percent of businesses believe Chinese authorities have a weak perception of the rule of law, while 22.51 percent hoped mediation or lawsuits would take place in Taiwan in case such disputes arose.
The survey was conducted between Feb. 1 and March 21 with 413 Taiwanese listed and over-the-counter companies with operations in China.
The survey showed that 32.58 percent of Taiwanese businesses entering a joint venture with Chinese businesses and 22.99 percent of independently owned Taiwanese businesses have encountered or may encounter disputes in China.
Fairs, exhibitions may benefit
The situation across the Taiwan Strait could further improve in the second half of this year, creating many new business opportunities for Taiwanese industries, including trade fairs and conventions, Minister of Economic Affairs Yiin Chii-ming (尹啟銘) said yesterday.
Speaking at a ceremony to mark the establishment of the Republic of China exhibition and convention association at the Taipei International Convention Center, Yiin said he expected cross-strait ties to make significant steps forward over the next six months, adding that this would benefit Taiwan’s exhibition and convention industry.
Citing a report by the International Association of Conference Centers, Yiin said Taiwan’s global ranking in hosting international conferences went from No. 40 in 2006 to No. 18 last year.
NT drops against greenback
The NT dollar dropped against the US dollar on the Taipei Forex Inc yesterday, declining NT$0.036 to close at NT$30.353.
A total of US$1.323 billion changed hands during the day’s trading.
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