TAIEX gains 36 points
Shares closed 0.48 percent higher yesterday, buoyed by an increase in capital inflows, dealers said.
The TAIEX rose 36.12 points to 7,545.29 on turnover of NT$135.33 billion (US$4.21 billion).
A total of 29 shares surged to their daily 7 percent limit, against 15 limit-down. However, losers outnumbered gainers 1,288 to 1,178, while 207 stocks remained unchanged.
The index’s rise was led by assets plays and financials, said Young Wang of Yuanta Securities Investment Consulting (元大投顧).
Wu orders sale of idle lots
Premier Wu Den-yih (吳敦義) yesterday directed the Ministry of Economic Affairs to evaluate the feasibility of selling idle properties in the nation’s four industrial parks in Yunlin, Ilan, Changhwa and Tainan counties.
These vacant lots, totaling around 600 hectares, should be sold to local enterprises to build factories and facilities, instead of staying idle, Wu said.
Selling these properties could result in a loss of NT$30 billion (US$0.94 billion) for the government, but it could spur economic growth and increase employment, he said.
UMC sells property
United Microelectronics Corp (UMC, 聯電), the world’s second-largest maker of customized chips, sold a property in Taoyuan to Unimicron Technology Corp for NT$802 million ($25 million), the Hsinchu-based company said in a stock exchange filing yesterday.
The chipmaker booked about NT$80 million in profit from the sale, the statement said.
Chinatrust has new adviser
Chinatrust Financial Holding Co’s (中信金控) new chief economic adviser Christina Liu (劉憶如) reported for work on Wednesday, the company said in a statement.
Liu used to serve as chief economic adviser at Daiwa Institute of Research Ltd.
Chinatrust said that Liu would assist the company in formulating future development strategies and beefing up its international competitiveness.
Liu will also provide insights into local and global economic prospects, while keeping a tab on industrial developments in the Asia-Pacific region, the statement said.
To avoid conflicts of interest, Liu had resigned as independent director at the board of the Industrial Bank of Taiwan (台灣工銀), the company said.
Liu, who has a doctorate in economics from the University of Chicago, had served as a People First Party legislator for two terms before going to work for Daiwa last February.
Formosa starts maintenance
Formosa Petrochemical Corp (台塑石化), the nation’s only publicly traded oil refiner, shut a crude distillation unit and a fuel oil plant yesterday for maintenance.
The stoppage will last between 35 and 40 days, spokesman Lin Keh-yen (林克彥) said by telephone.
The firm also halted a gasoline-producing unit yesterday for a 10-day inspection, he said.
Formosa Petrochemical expects crude processing to fall to 430,000 barrels a day in the fourth quarter from about 490,000 barrels in the previous three month because of the stoppage, Lin said.
NT dollar weakens
The New Taiwan dollar lost ground against the US dollar on the Taipei Foreign Exchange yesterday, declining NT$0.119 to close at NT$32.319.
A total of US$2.3 billion changed hands during the day’s trading, up from the previous day’s US$2.21 billion.
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