Share prices close lower
Taiwanese share prices closed 1.24 percent lower yesterday as dealers took further profits following a lengthy rally last week, dealers said.
The TAIEX index fell 92.27 points to 7,376.76 on turnover of NT$127.65 billion (US$3.95 billion).
Losers outnumbered gainers 2,041 to 528, while 135 shares remained unchanged. A total of 24 stocks fell to their daily 7.0 percent limit, against nine limit-up.
“It’s time for the market to take a breather after such a big rally,” said David Li (李衍磐), sales trader at Daiwa Securities SMBC-Cathay Co (大和國泰).
Taiwanese stocks have fallen for the past three days after rising 2.58 percent last week.
Government plans bonds sale
The government is planning to sell NT$140 billion (US$4.3 billion) in bonds in the fourth quarter to help fund spending, NT$40 billion more than was sold in the final three months of last year.
Taiwan will auction NT$30 billion in five-year notes on Oct. 5, NT$40 billion in two-year securities on Oct. 16, NT$30 billion of 20-year debt on Nov. 17, and NT$40 billion in 10-year bonds on Dec. 11, a statement posted on the Ministry of Finance’s Web site said yesterday.
The government will also sell NT$125 billion of Treasury bills in the period.
Remittances increase gradually
Remittances to Taiwan from Taiwanese listed and over-the-counter (OTC) companies that have business operations in China have increased gradually over the last four years, the Financial Supervisory Commission (FSC) reported on Tuesday.
As of the end of June, 928 Taiwanese listed and OTC companies had invested in China, representing 72.5 percent of all listed and OTC companies in Taiwan, with their combined investments totaling NT$899.6 billion (US$27.68 billion), FSC tallies showed.
In the second quarter of this year, the 928 firms had remitted NT$81.3 billion of their profits, marking a 9.04 percent ratio of their combined investments.
This was higher than the ratio of 8.56 percent posted in the previous quarter and 8.51 percent recorded in the last quarter of last year, the FSC tallies show.
Electronics and computer companies, which comprise the bulk of Taiwanese companies operating in China, were the biggest remitters, the FSC said.
Taiwan set to buy US produce
Taiwan is set to purchase US$3.5 billion worth of farm products from the US, officials at Taiwan’s representative office in Washington said.
A Taiwanese procurement mission, led by former minister of the Council of Agriculture Sun Ming-hsien (孫明賢), were to meet with US congressmen and visit relevant federal agencies before signing a letter of intent yesterday to buy agricultural goods in the next two years.
This is the seventh such Taiwanese mission to the US since 1998.
Beginning today, the delegation will split up into two groups, with one focusing on the procurement of soy beans and the other on sweet corn and wheat.
The first group will visit the states of Indiana, Illinois, Iowa and Missouri, while the second will go to Kansas, North Dakota, Montana and California to appraise the crops they are interested in buying.
NT dollar ends day higher
The New Taiwan dollar gained ground against the US dollar on the Taipei Foreign Exchange yesterday, rising NT$0.017 to close at NT$32.369.
Turnover was US$748 million.
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