Share prices edge up
Taiwanese share prices closed up 0.19 percent yesterday as profit-taking offset early gains, dealers said.
The TAIEX rose 14.65 points to 7,710.40 on turnover of NT$164.56 billion (US$5.11 billion).
Losers outnumbered gainers 1,554 to 1,123, while 226 shares remained unchanged.
The market rose to the day’s high of 7,780.66 at the opening boosted by a powerful rally on Wall Street overnight that lifted the Dow Jones Industrial Average to its first close above 10,000 in more than a year.
“Although trading was active, selling emerged at the opening. After all, share prices have picked up significantly lately,” Chen Yu-yu (陳育娛) of Capital Securities Corp (群益證券) said.
Biomedical construction begins
Construction of factory buildings for biotechnology research and development at Hsinchu Biomedical Science Park (HBSP) started yesterday, and is expected to be completed by the end of next year, a park official said.
The science park, which is located in Hsinchu City, is expected to bring in 30 manufacturers once all the factory buildings have been completed, officials said.
Randy Yen (顏宗明), director of the Hsinchu Science Park Administration, said some 20 companies have expressed an interest in setting up new factory buildings in the park. The companies are mostly medical apparatus and pharmaceuticals companies engaged in research and development for new medicines.
Shin Kong books NT$1bn gain
Shin Kong Life Insurance Co (新光人壽) booked a gain of NT$1 billion from selling a property in Taichung for NT$1.4 billion, its parent Shin Kong Financial Holding Co (新光金控) said in an exchange filing yesterday.
The sum compares with appraisals made by Top Real Estate Appraisal Firm (尚上不動產) at NT$1.28 billion and REPro International Inc (瑞普國際) at NT$1.32 billion.
Uni-President approves sale
Uni-President Enterprises Corp (統一企業), the nation’s biggest food conglomerate, said in a statement yesterday that its board approved the sale of up to NT$5 billion (US$155 million) in five-year unsecured corporate bonds to repay debt and improve the company’s financial structure.
The bonds may have a fixed or floating interest rate and may be sold this year or next year, the statement said.
Yuanta Bank fined NT$4m
The Financial Supervisory Commission yesterday fined Yuanta Bank (元大銀行) NT$4 million for negligent internal controls after a bank clerk was found to have embezzled almost NT$13 million from an investor client to buy up financial products without the client’s consent.
The commission also ordered the bank to immediately fire the clerk.
ASE refutes Citi report
Advanced Semiconductor Engineering Inc (ASE, 日月光半導體), the world’s biggest chip packager and tester, yesterday refuted a Citi Investment Research report that the Kaohsiung-based company had lost 10 to 20 copper wirebonding process engineers to competitors.
ASE said in a statement that the Citi report issued on Monday was inaccurate. The company “has not lost any copper wirebonding process engineers to competitors,” the statement said.
New Taiwan dollar gains
The New Taiwan dollar gained ground against the US dollar on the Taipei Foreign Exchange yesterday, rising NT$0.024 to close at NT$32.218. Turnover was US$872 million.
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