Shares rise 0.75 percent
Share prices closed 0.75 percent higher yesterday following overnight gains on Wall Street, dealers said.
The weighted index rose 40.18 points to 5,386.56. Turnover was NT$147.47 billion (US$4.34 billion).
Gainers led losers 1,327 to 666 with 147 stocks unchanged. Financials rose 2.38 percent and electronics gained 0.78 percent, while steel shed 2.17 percent.
Capital Securities Corp (群益證券) trader Alan Tseng (曾炎裕) expected the upward trend to continue for a while before profit-taking sets in.
“It can bring the index higher more easily but investors will be more likely to take quick profit soon” if trading volume continues to rise, he said.
Mega buys last Chinfon tranche
The Central Deposit Insurance Corp (CDIC, 中央存保) Thursday sold off the remaining tranche of debt-ridden Chinfon Commercial Bank’s (慶豐銀) bad loans to Mega Asset Management Corp (兆豐資產管理公司) for NT$2.458 billion (US$72.7 million).
The tranche has an unpaid balance of NT$20.1 billion, the deposit insurer said in a press statement.
Meanwhile, the Financial Supervisory Commission denied that the commission has finalized a plan to enforce a takeover of Chinfon’s assets, liabilities and operations — the so-called “good bank” part of the firm — to the Bank of Taiwan (臺灣銀行), as reported by Dow Jones Newswire on Wednesday.
“We will ask the Financial Restructuring Fund’s steering committee to come up with a plan for further discussions before the commission finalize the sale’s aftermath,” deputy director of the commission’s banking bureau Shiau Chang-ruey (蕭長瑞) said yesterday.
Hong Kong bank eyes AIG unit
Bank of East Asia Ltd (東亞銀行), the Hong Kong lender that suffered a brief run on deposits in September, said it plans to acquire American International Group Inc’s (AIG) Taiwan wealth management unit.
The bank has an agreement with AIG Wealth Management Services (Taiwan) Ltd (友邦證券) and has submitted an application to Taiwan’s Investment Commission for approval, the bank said.
China Airlines boosts flights
China Airlines (華航, CAL) is celebrating its 50th anniversary by offering additional flights to Jeju Island, Seoul, Hong Kong, Bangkok, Tokyo and Honolulu, the company said in a statement yesterday.
From this month to Sept. 27, CAL will launch a total of 48 charter flights between Kaohsiung and scenic Jeju Island in Korea.
Additionally, the local carrier will increase its round trip flights between Kaohsiung and Seoul from five to seven trips per week, starting today.
From Sunday, flights on the Taipei-Hong Kong-Bangkok route will increase from one flight per day to two, the company said. The company said it would also upgrade Taipei-Tokyo-Honolulu flights to a larger Boeing 747-400 aircraft from April 7.
NT dollar gains on greenback
The New Taiwan dollar rose for the first time in three days after US economic reports indicated a recession may be easing in the world’s biggest economy, brightening the outlook for exports.
The NT dollar advanced 0.2 percent to NT$33.820 per US dollar at yesterday’s close, Taipei Forex Inc said. The currency climbed 3.3 percent this month, trimming this quarter’s loss to 2.8 percent.
“The US recession may not be as deep as investors expected,” said Dariusz Kowalczyk, chief investment strategist at SJS Markets Ltd in Hong Kong. “For an economy like Taiwan that is so dependent on external demand, an overnight turn of sentiment can have a larger impact than a rate cut.”
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