Shares up 0.48 percent
Taiwanese shares closed up 0.48 percent yesterday as profit taking in late trade eroded early gains after Wall Street moved above the key 8,000 point mark last week, dealers said.
The weighted index rose 26.59 points to 5,556.22 on turnover of NT$147.61 billion (US$4.46 billion).
The market opened 1.10 percent higher and the momentum continued in morning trade as buying was triggered by the Wall Street gains with a focus on the financial sector, dealers said.
However, with the index moving closer to the 5,600 point resistance level, investors preferred to pocket early gains to cap the upside, they said.
“The profit taking was no surprise after the bourse had recently staged a significant showing,” Mega Securities (兆豐證券) analyst Alex Huang (黃國偉) said.
“But, adequate liquidity continued to lend support to the market as a stronger Taiwan dollar kept leading foreign funds into Taiwan,” Huang said.
Huang said even if further profit taking prompts the market to enter into a consolidation mode, an upward trend will not change anytime soon.
CPT to sell shares
Chunghwa Picture Tubes Ltd (CPT, 中華映管), the nation’s third-largest liquid-crystal-display (LCD) panel maker, said yesterday it would raise NT$15 billion by selling a maximum 6 billion new common, or special shares via private placement.
It also planned to issue corporate bonds to raise as much as US$250 million via private placement, the company said in a filing to the Taiwan Stock Exchange.
The panel maker would use the proceeds to repay bank loan, to finance operation and to buy raw materials and new equipment, according to two separate filings.
The price was set at NT$2.5 per share initially, CPT said.
The fund raising plans will be brought to shareholder’s meeting scheduled on May 19, the company said.
Qisda sales down 24.13 percent
Qisda Corp (佳世達) yesterday posted pre-audited sales of NT$18.02 billion for last quarter, a year-over-year decline of 24.13 percent.
For last month, the Taoyuan-based company delivered NT$7.13 billion in sales, a month-on-month increase of 32.2 percent.
The local original design manufacturer yesterday attributed last month’s better-than-expected performance to “a rise in rush orders due to lower customer inventories leading to double digit revenue growth among Qisda’s major product lines,” it said in a press statement.
Bill on interest rate imminent
A bill intended to lower the ceiling of interest rates banks can charge to late credit card payments is expected to clear the legislature today after the Financial Supervisory Commission yesterday gave its approval.
The bill would cut the limit on all contracted interest rates from 20 percent to a maximum of 9 percent above the central bank’s rate for loans without collateral, the commission said in a statement.
That would be 12.5 percent, after the central bank cut the lending rate to 3.5 percent in February.
NT dollar rises on optimism
The New Taiwan dollar rose for a fifth day as stocks extended a rally on speculation the worst of the financial crisis is over, encouraging overseas investors to put more money into regional assets.
The NT dollar rose 0.4 percent to NT$33.250 versus the greenback after reaching NT$33.094, the strongest level in almost three months.
But the currency may weaken past NT$34 in the coming one or two weeks, Cheung said.
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