TAIEX up 46.2 points
Share prices closed higher yesterday, with the TAIEX index moving up 46.2 points, or 0.58 percent, to close at 7,900.42.
The local bourse opened at 7,908.11 and fluctuated between a low of 7,842.07 and a high of 7,923.27 during the day’s trading. Market turnover totaled NT$106.26 billion (US$3.38 billion).
Five of the eight major stock categories gained ground, with foodstuff issues gaining the most, at 1.64 percent. The three other major stock categories lost ground, with construction issues moving down 0.78 percent.
Gainers outnumbered losers 1,676 to 1,486, with 244 remaining unchanged.
Foreign investors and Chinese qualified domestic institutional investors were net sellers of NT$4.81 billion in shares.
Airlines raise freight charges
EVA Airways Corp (長榮航空), the nation’s second-largest carrier, plans to raise freight charges by between 20 percent and 30 percent on average as demand for cargo services improves.
The changes will take effect from Saturday, Eric Lin (林司忠), a public relations manager at the Taoyuan-based carrier, said by telephone yesterday.
Rates are returning to 2007 levels, he said.
“Demand for carrying cargos has been pretty good since March,” Lin said.
China Airlines Ltd (CAL, 中華航空), the nation’s largest carrier, would also raise air cargo prices by an average of 10 percent to 15 percent from tomorrow because of strong cargo demand, John Chang (張炯滄), the company’s vice president for finance, said yesterday.
The Chinese-language Commercial Times reported earlier yesterday that CAL would raise European cargo freight rates by as much as 35 percent amid increased demand as flights resume after an air traffic suspension prompted by a cloud of volcanic ash from Iceland.
Investors avoid Goldman fallout
Taiwan’s banks, brokerages and insurers did not invest in the collateralized-debt obligation (CDO) that led the US Securities and Exchange Commission to file charges of civil fraud against Goldman Sachs, the Financial Supervisory Commission said in a statement on Monday night.
Local banks also don’t have products linked to the CDO, nor are any products in an asset pool of a local collateralized bond obligation issued in 2007 linked to the CDO in question, the commission said.
China Mobile’s Q1 profit rises
China Mobile Ltd (中國移動), the world’s biggest phone carrier by subscribers, said yesterday its first-quarter profit rose 1.1 percent from a year earlier amid intensifying competition.
Profit for the three months ending March 31 was 25.5 billion yuan (US$3.7 billion), the Beijing-based carrier said. Revenue rose 7.7 percent to 109 billion yuan (US$15.9 billion).
“In the first quarter of 2010, the group faced adverse factors such as the increased mobile penetration rate and the intensifying market competition,” chairman and chief executive officer Wang Jianzhou (王建宙) said in a statement.
The company said it added an average of 5.5 million accounts per month for a total of 538.9 million. But it said average revenue per user is declining as the market becomes saturated and many new customers use their phones less.
NT dollar rises
The New Taiwan dollar gained ground against the US dollar on the Taipei Foreign Exchange yesterday, rising NT$0.045 to close at NT$31.447. A total of US$792 million changed hands during the trading session.
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