TAIEX down 0.17 percent
Share prices closed lower yesterday, with the TAIEX falling 13.42 points, or 0.17 percent, to close at 7,585.3.
The local bourse opened at 7,630.1 and fluctuated between 7,560.89 and 7,637.99. Market turnover totaled NT$82.13 billion (US$2.58 billion).
Five of the major stock categories gained ground, with paper and pulp issues gaining the most at 0.69 percent, followed by financial and banking stocks at 0.5 percent. Cement issues rose 0.17 percent, foodstuff shares moved up 0.14 percent, and construction shares were up 0.04 percent.
Foreign investors and Chinese qualified domestic institutional investors were net buyers of NT$94 million in shares.
Foreign firms may issue TDRs
The Taiwan Stock Exchange Corp (TWSE) said yesterday that several US and Japan-listed companies might issue Taiwan depository receipts (TDRs) on the TAIEX this year.
An unidentified NASDAQ-listed company might submit an application as early as the third quarter of this year, TWSE chairman Schive Chi (薛琦) said after attending the listing ceremony of US-based integrated circuit designer Integrated Memory Logic Ltd (IML) — the first foreign company to have its initial public offering in Taiwan.
Schive said the company expressed strong interest in issuing TDRs at a business promotion event held by the TWSE in Hong Kong in which more than 100 listed companies with an average market capital of NT$50 billion participated.
Schive said 57 foreign companies have expressed interest in launching IPOs in Taiwan, and TPK Holding Co — a provider of touch technology products and services — might be the second foreign company to go public in Taiwan after the IML listing.
IML shares shot up 70 percent to close at NT$243 on their first trading day amid optimism over the company’s earnings outlook, analysts said.
Shanghai plan boosts airlines
EVA Airways Corp (長榮航空) and China Airlines Ltd (中華航空) rose in Taipei trading after the Taipei City Government Web site cited Taipei Mayor Hau Lung-bin (郝龍斌) as saying he aims to have direct flights between Taipei’s Songshan Airport and Shanghai’s Hongqiao Airport, hopefully by the middle of next month.
EVA stock gained 4.2 percent to close at NT$17.40 in Taipei, while China Airlines advanced almost 2 percent to close at NT$13.1.
China Telecom to offer Storm
Research In Motion Ltd (RIM) will start selling its BlackBerry Storm smartphone with China Telecom Corp (中國電信) as it tries to gain an edge over rival China Unicom (Hong Kong) Ltd (中國聯通), the local carrier of Apple Inc’s iPhone.
China Telecom is offering the touch-screen Storm for its business users, according to an e-mailed statement. The carrier will initially make the e-mail device available in 16 of China’s 31 provinces.
RIM is looking to Asia as sales growth there outstrips the US, where the company gets more than half its revenue. Waterloo, Ontario-based RIM said in December that it will offer a handset customized for a locally developed Chinese technology with China Mobile.
The Storm, which debuted in the US in November 2008, was criticized for its screen design and early software glitches, prompting RIM to introduce the Storm2 last October.
NT dollar rebounds
One day after its sharp 0.8 percent decline, the New Taiwan dollar yesterday regained NT$0.122, or 0.38 percent, to close at NT$31.978 against the greenback on turnover of US$953 million.
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