Taiwanese shares steady
Taiwanese share prices closed little changed yesterday, with investors reluctant to chase prices after recent significant gains, dealers said.
The TAIEX rose 4.70 points, or 0.06 percent, to 7,715.10 on turnover of NT$117.94 billion (US$3.65 billion). Losers led gainers 1,309 to 1,203 with 269 stocks unchanged.
The market opened slightly higher, but moved in a narrow range throughout the session as rotational interest focused on relatively cheap property and financial stocks, while large cap high-tech firms faced lackluster trade.
“The reduced turnover strongly signaled many investors have retreated from the trading floor,” Concord Securities (康和證券) analyst Allen Lin said.
Taiwan sells two-year notes
Taiwan’s government sold NT$40 billion of two-year notes at a yield of 0.349 percent, the central bank said yesterday in a statement.
The sale attracted bids for 1.84 times the amount of debt on offer, compared with a so-called bid-to-cover ratio of 2.2 times at the previous auction of comparable debt on May 15, 2007, the statement said. The yield at the last sale was 1.932 percent.
No Chinese bank applications
The China Banking Regulatory Commission said it has not received any application from Chinese banks to invest in Taiwanese financial institutions and has not approved Industrial and Commercial Bank of China Ltd (中國工商銀行) and China Construction Bank Corp (中國建設銀行) to buy stakes in any firms. The regulator sent the statement in a text message yesterday.
The Chinese-language Commercial Times reported on Thursday the regulator had allowed the two mainland lenders to take stakes in Taiwanese financial institutions. The regulator described the report as a “rumor.”
China and Taiwan are still working on a memorandum of understanding for financial cooperation and hope to sign an agreement “as soon as possible,” the text message said.
TPV, Inventec to form venture
TPV Technology Ltd (冠捷), the world’s biggest contract maker of computer monitors, plans to form a US$20 million venture with Inventec Co (英業達) to make all-in-one PCs, as the companies seek to expand.
TPV will take a 51 percent stake in the partnership and Inventec, the world’s fourth-biggest laptop computer maker, will own the balance, Hong Kong-based TPV said in a statement on Thursday. The proposed venture is pending approval from the Hong Kong and Taiwan authorities, the statement said.
Gueishan to develop center
Gueishan (龜山) Township in Taoyuan County on Thursday signed an urban planning agreement with Taiwan Innovation Development Corp (台開) to develop the township into the first high-tech city of wisdom, or so-called ubiquitous city, in Taiwan.
The two-year project will cost an estimated NT$50 million, which excludes a planning budget of NT$2 million in the first three months, township supervisor Lu Hsueh-chi (呂學記) told a media briefing. The township will cooperate with Chunghwa Telecom (中華電信) to facilitate wireless Internet services by building WiMax infrastructure there, he said.
Gueishan, home to Chang Gung Hospital (長庚醫院) and Hwa Ya Technology Park (華亞科技園區), has an annual production output of around NT$1 trillion with a population of 136,000 people.
Local currency loses ground
The New Taiwan dollar lost ground against the US dollar on the Taipei Foreign Exchange yesterday, declining NT$0.082 to close at NT$32.300. Turnover was US$1.18 billion.
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