TAIEX climbs to 6,718.81
Share prices closed up 0.23 percent yesterday despite a pullback on other regional markets amid growing investor confidence over improved cross-strait ties, dealers said.
The TAIEX rose 15.19 points to close at 6,718.81 on turnover of NT$182.94 billion (US$5.59 billion).
Gainers outnumbered losers 1,172 to 999, while 126 shares remained unchanged.
The range-bound consolidation, relatively strong if compared with other regional markets, signaled that the market continued gaining momentum for another rally.
“Investors remained optimistic about the market’s prospects, mainly propped up by the fast warming ties with China,” which has led to closer economic exchanges between the two former bitter rivals, Steven Huang of President Securities (統一證券) said.
Chunghwa to offer 236 jobs
Chunghwa Telecom Co (中華電信), the nation’s biggest telecoms service provider by revenue, said in a statement yesterday that it planned to recruit 236 people before the end of August.
Chunghwa Telecom currently has a pool of about 24,500 employees, and the new hires will be those in sales and engineering jobs, among others, the statement said.
TSE may scrap daily limits
Taiwan Stock Exchange (TSE) chairman Schive Chi (薛琦) said yesterday that the stock exchange was evaluating whether to adjust or scrap the current 7 percent ceiling, which limits the daily upward or downward movement of a stock.
Schive made the comment on the sideline of an exchange-traded funds (ETF) forum in Taipei. He said the stock exchange would begin consulting with market participators about the ceiling adjustment at the end of the year because the structure of investors in the equity market has changed substantially, but he did not offer a timeframe for the change.
The Financial Supervisory Commission said it had no particular position on the matter, although it agreed the issue was open to discussion.
During the forum, Schive said TSE would start collaborating with its counterparts in Hong Kong, Shanghai and Shenzhen, as long as Taiwan and China signed the memorandum of understanding on financial supervision.
The cooperation will include cross-listing EFTs and developing other products, he said.
FSC suspends Singfor boss
The Financial Supervisory Commission (FSC) yesterday said it decided to suspend Deng Wen-tsung (鄧文聰) as chairman of Singfor Life Insurance Co (幸福人壽) for one year, because the commission ruled that the local insurer had violated insurance laws after it placed a winning bid in the auction for a plot of D3 land in Taipei’s Xinyi district (信義區) last month.
NT surges to five-month high
The New Taiwan dollar rose to a five-month high after the nation’s current-account surplus swelled to a record and equity purchases by foreign funds exceeded sales for a second day.
The Taiwan dollar rose 0.4 percent to NT$32.738 against the US currency at the 4pm close, Taipei Forex Inc said. It touched NT$32.606 earlier, the strongest level since Dec. 22.
The currency climbed for a third day after the central bank on Wednesday said the surplus on the current account, the broadest measure of trade and investment flows, increased to US$13 billion in the first quarter as imports plunged.
Taiwan Transport and Storage Corp (TTS, 台灣通運倉儲) yesterday unveiled its first electric tractor unit — manufactured by Volvo Trucks — in a ceremony in Taipei, and said the unit would soon be used to transport cement produced by Taiwan Cement Corp (TCC, 台灣水泥). Both TTS and TCC belong to TCC International Holdings Ltd (台泥國際集團). With the electric tractor unit, the Taipei-based cement firm would become the first in Taiwan to use electric vehicles to transport construction materials. TTS chairman Koo Kung-yi (辜公怡), Volvo Trucks vice president of sales and marketing Johan Selven, TCC president Roman Cheng (程耀輝) and Taikoo Motors Group
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FUTURE PLANS: Although the electric vehicle market is getting more competitive, Hon Hai would stick to its goal of seizing a 5 percent share globally, Young Liu said Hon Hai Precision Industry Co (鴻海精密), a major iPhone assembler and supplier of artificial intelligence (AI) servers powered by Nvidia Corp’s chips, yesterday said it has introduced a rotating chief executive structure as part of the company’s efforts to cultivate future leaders and to enhance corporate governance. The 50-year-old contract electronics maker reported sizable revenue of NT$6.16 trillion (US$189.67 billion) last year. Hon Hai, also known as Foxconn Technology Group (富士康科技集團), has been under the control of one man almost since its inception. A rotating CEO system is a rarity among Taiwanese businesses. Hon Hai has given leaders of the company’s six