Large-cap stocks fuel rebound
Large-cap stocks led local shares on a technical rebound yesterday as investors took advantage of low valuations after recent heavy losses, dealers said.
The TAIEX closed up 110.10 points, or 1.55 percent, at 7,181.77, after moving between 7,085.34 and 7,182.99, on turnover of NT$65.66 billion (US$2.02 billion).
The market opened 0.88 percent higher on bargain hunting and the momentum extended until the end of the session as investors bought into market heavyweights, encouraged by gains posted by other markets in the region such as Japan, Hong Kong and South Korea, dealers said.
Asian credit purchases rise
Asian Visa cardholders swiped their cards to pay for purchases worth more than US$1 trillion in the 12 months before March, which represents a 13.2 percent growth year-on-year, Visa Inc said yesterday.
That showed the region’s economic conditions have greatly improved, with Southeastern Asian countries, including Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore and Thailand, seeing significant growth in spending via Visa credit cards, the card issuer said in a press statement.
At the same time, the volume of transactions made via Visa cards grew from 8.6 billion to 9.8 billion, which reflects the prevalence of consumers using credit cards as an electronic purse to replace the use of cash and bank checks, the statement added.
Globally, overseas spending by Visa cardholders grew 12 percent year-on-year in the first three months of this year as a result of increases in outbound travel, its statement added.
Ten-year bonds sold at auction
The government sold NT$40 billion (US$1.2 billion) of 10-year bonds at a yield of 1.457 percent in an auction yesterday, the central bank said in a statement.
The sale of the securities maturing in March 2020 attracted bids for 1.55 times the amount of debt on offer, the central bank said.
The government last sold 10-year bonds in March, at a yield of 1.399 percent. That offer garnered a bid-to-cover ratio of 1.8 times.
Airline revenues jump
China Airlines Ltd (中華航空), the nation’s largest carrier, posted NT$12.14 billion in revenue last month, up 7.7 percent from April and up 74.47 percent from a year earlier, while EVA Airways Corp (長榮航空) saw sales rise 5.22 percent last month from April and increase 73.17 percent year-on-year.
“The two carriers are benefiting from strong demand for air links across the Taiwan Strait,” Taiwan International Securities Corp (金鼎證券) analyst Michael Chiang said yesterday.
He said recent fare hikes in cargo transportation on routes to Europe also lifted sales at the two carriers.
Price-drop hits Chimei Innolux
Flat-panel maker Chimei Innolux Corp’s (奇美電子) sales value for last month was affected by falling product prices, while sales volume of its large panels recorded a mild increase compared with April.
The company on Wednesday posted NT$49.68 billion in sales for last month. Although the figure was down 0.5 percent from April, shipments of large panels, the company’s major products, rose 3 percent month-on-month to 11.75 million units. Large panels are defined as those 10 inches (25.4cm) or above and are used in TVs, desktop computers and notebook computers.
NT dollar gains ground
The New Taiwan dollar gained ground against the US dollar yesterday, rising NT$0.03 to close at NT$32.490. Turnover was US$986 million during the trading session.
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