TAIEX edges higher
Share prices closed 0.92 percent higher yesterday despite Wall Street’s overnight fall and mixed regional markets, dealers said.
The TAIEX rose 64.88 points to 7,104.65 on turnover of NT$137.53 billion (US$4.3 billion).
Taiwan International Securities trader Rita Li said sentiment was boosted by a solid earnings outlook for technology firms in the second half of the year as well as gains in Chinese shares.
“Most negative news in August have been priced in,” she said, adding plastics, steel and select tech stocks attracted more buyers.
The plastics sector soared 5.50 percent, with Formosa Plastics Corp (台塑) adding 1.50 percent to NT$60.40.
United Microelectronics Corp (聯電), rose 1.40 percent to NT$14.50 and rival Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (台積電) was 0.30 percent firmer at NT$59.80.
China Steel Corp (中鋼) was up 2 percent at 30.20 after saying it would raise prices again.
Cathay Financial Holding Co (國泰金控) rose 1 percent to NT$48.90.
Taipower sells bonds
Taiwan Power Co (Taipower, 台電公司) sold NT$12.73 billion in bonds to help fund the purchase of new generators and build transmission lines.
The state-run utility sold NT$2.33 billion in three-year notes, NT$5.2 billion in five-year bonds and NT$5.2 billion in 10-year securities, Taipower, said in an e-mailed statement yesterday. The sale brought the Taipei-based company’s total debt sold this year to NT$32.72 billion.
Taipower expects to invest NT$161 billion in fixed assets, including generators and transmission lines, next year, the government’s draft budget for next year shows. The utility needs to borrow NT$200 billion this year to fund spending, chief engineer Tu Yueh-yuan (杜悅元) said in January.
The three-year notes will pay an annual interest of 0.85 percent, the five-year bonds 1.34 percent and the 10-year debt 1.95 percent, the company said.
Banks report profits
China Development Holding Co (中華開發) reported NT$4.2 billion in net profits for the first eight months of this year, or NT$0.4 per share, its exchange filing said yesterday.
Cathay United Bank (國泰世華銀行), the banking subsidiary of Cathay Financial Holding Co (國泰金), reported NT$7.4 billion in before-tax earnings for the first eight months of this year, or a before-tax earning of NT$1.53 per share, its exchange filing said.
Another filing showed that Waterland Financial Holding Co (國票金控) more than tripled its net profit to NT$1.9 billion for the first eight months of this year from one year earlier, or an earning of NT$0.93 per share.
Meanwhile, state-controlled Chang Hwa Bank (彰銀) plans to extend its wealth management services to Hong Kong in the middle of November, it said on Wednesday.
NT dollar to appreciate
The central banks of Taiwan and Singapore will allow more room for their currencies to appreciate as economic growth recovers, Goldman Sachs Group Inc said yesterday.
The Singapore dollar will strengthen 2.1 percent to S$1.41 over the next 12 months and the New Taiwan dollar will gain 4.4 percent to NT$31.5, economists led by Hong Kong-based Michael Buchanan wrote in a report.
“Growth will continue to be supported by the firmer recoveries in the global industrial cycle in the near term,” they wrote in the report published yesterday.
“We see more room for the central bank in Taiwan to tolerate more Taiwan dollar strength, and we expect the Monetary Authority of Singapore to tighten policy through a modest appreciation” next year, the economists said.
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