Shares edge higher
Share prices closed higher yesterday with the TAIEX moving up 14.77 points, or 0.18 percent, to close at 7,962.22.
The bourse opened at 7,992.12 and fluctuated between a low of 7,942.47 and a high of 7,994.62 during the day’s trading. Market turnover totaled NT$114.15 billion (US$3.59 billion).
Seven of the eight major stock categories gained ground, with paper and pulp issues gaining the most at 1.35 percent.
Losers outnumbered gainers 1,585 to 1,401 with 380 remaining unchanged.
Foreign investors and Chinese qualified domestic institutional investors were net buyers of NT$5.61 billion-worth of shares.
Hannstar to sell factory
LCD maker Hannstar Display Corp (瀚宇彩晶) said a stock exchange filing yesterday it had agreed to sell an unused factory in Kaohsiung, including land and building, to Walton Advanced Engineering Inc (華東科技) for NT$415 million.
HannStar chairman Chiao Yu-chi (焦佑麒) and Walton chairman Chiao Yu-heng (焦佑衡) are brothers, the filing said.
Banking sector CAR rises
The local banking sector’s capital adequacy ratio (CAR) averaged at 11.86 percent as of the end of December, up from 11.6 percent in the third quarter of last year, Financial Supervisory Commission statistics showed yesterday.
The sector totaled NT$2.02 trillion in working capital with an averaged tier-one CAR at 9.02 percent in December, the data showed.
Among 36 domestic banks, 15 maintained a CAR above 12 percent and another 17 had a ratio of between 10 percent and 12 percent, while the remaining four banks had a CAR of between 8 percent and 10 percent, government data showed.
Meanwhile, the statistics showed that the nation’s 38 credit-card issuers averaged a non-performing loan (NPL) ratio of 0.88 percent last month, or NT$1.1 billion and down from 0.91 in the previous month.
The 19 cash-card issuers averaged a NPL ratio of 2.271 percent, or NT$300 million and up slightly from 2.159 percent from January, the data showed.
Winbond to sell GDRs
Computer memory chipmaker Winbond Electronics Corp (華邦電子) plans to sell as many as 360 million new common shares, or shares in the form of global depositary receipts (GDRs), or convertible bonds, or a combination of these, the company said in a filing to the Taiwan Stock Exchange yesterday.
Winbond also plans to dispose of 23 million shares in Nuvoton Technology Corp (新唐科技), the chipmaker said in a separate filing.
Wei Chuan to sell bonds, GDRs
Wei Chuan Food Corp’s (味全食品) board approved plans to sell as much as NT$6 billion of convertible bonds and a maximum 160 million new shares in Taiwan or in the form of GDRs overseas, filings to the Taiwan Stock Exchange showed yesterday. Proceeds will be used to boost working capital or repay bank loans, the company said.
Separately, Yuanta Financial Holding Co’s (元大金控) board approved plans to sell as much as NT$5 billion of convertible bonds and to buy back 4 million shares, it said in two filings to the Taiwan Stock Exchange yesterday.
NT dollar gains ground
The New Taiwan dollar gained ground against the US dollar on the Taipei Foreign Exchange yesterday, rising NT$0.005 to close at NT$31.81. Turnover was US$601 million.
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