TAIEX down on US data
Share prices closed down 0.40 percent yesterday in thin trading after investors took their cues from a Wall Street fall overnight on disappointing US existing home sales data, dealers said.
The TAIEX fell 30.53 points to 7,582.15, after fluctuating between 7,549.98 and 7,615.44, on turnover of NT$77.26 billion (US$2.41 billion).
The market opened 0.48 percent lower amid renewed worries over the pace of the global economic recovery, and pressure persisted throughout the trading session ahead of the nearest technical resistance at around the 7,600-point mark, according to the dealers.
A total of 1,729 stocks closed down and 1,166 were up, with 335 stocks remaining unchanged.
Citigroup to issue bonds
Citigroup Inc plans to raise US$330 billion via the issuance of three-year Formosa bonds, the nation’s first onshore US dollar-denominated bond by a foreign issuer from the local market, the bank said in a press statement yesterday.
The bond issue, priced with a coupon of 2.8 percent, will be listed on the GRETAI Securities Market and arranged by Citigroup Global Markets Inc, it said, adding that the proceeds would be for general corporate use.
Sales of the bond, offered and sold only in Taiwan, are expected to start next Tuesday and be settled on July 16. The bond is a maiden issue under the US bank’s shelf registration with a ceiling amount of US$1 billion in Taiwan, which has been approved by the financial regulator.
TECO Electric inks Japan deal
Taiwan-based TECO Electric & Machinery Co (東元電機) inked a cooperation contract with Japan’s SIM-Drive Corp yesterday under which TECO will produce high-horsepower electric in-wheel motors using technology supplied by the electric vehicle developer.
Production will begin next year, with capacity expected to reach 100,000 units by 2013, TECO said.
TECO chairman Liu Chao-kai (劉兆凱) said in-wheel motors are designed to be incorporated into the hub of a wheel, driving it directly.
He said in-wheel motors are likely to become a trend because of their flexibility and energy-saving features.
He said the market for in-wheel motors for electric vehicles is estimated to be around NT$7 billion (US$218.5 million) per year, and that his company and SIM-Drive are targeting electric vehicle manufacturers in China and Japan as potential buyers.
South Korea to limit loans
South Korea will bar banks from giving foreign-currency loans to local companies for domestic use starting on July 1 as part of measures announced this month to reduce volatility in capital flows and the won.
“The restriction to limit foreign-currency loans to overseas use will help reduce external debt,” the Bank of Korea said in an e-mailed statement in Seoul yesterday. “It will also protect local firms from the risk of big swings in foreign- exchange rates.”
South Korea joins nations from Taiwan to Russia in tightening rules on capital flows to limit swings in their currencies.
The G20 meeting in Busan, South Korea, earlier this month urged regulators to develop capital rules to enable financial firms to withstand future downturns in the global financial system.
NT dollar down NT$0.095
The New Taiwan dollar lost ground against the US dollar yesterday, declining NT$0.095 to close at the day’s low of NT$32.189. Turnover totaled US$818 million during the trading session.
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GlobalWafers Co (環球晶圓), the world’s No. 3 silicon wafer supplier, yesterday said that revenue would rise moderately in the second half of this year, driven primarily by robust demand for advanced wafers used in high-bandwidth memory (HBM) chips, a key component of artificial intelligence (AI) technology. “The first quarter is the lowest point of this cycle. The second half will be better than the first for the whole semiconductor industry and for GlobalWafers,” chairwoman Doris Hsu (徐秀蘭) said during an online investors’ conference. “HBM would definitely be the key growth driver in the second half,” Hsu said. “That is our big hope
The consumer price index (CPI) last month eased to 1.95 percent, below the central bank’s 2 percent target, as food and entertainment cost increases decelerated, helped by stable egg prices, the Directorate-General of Budget, Accounting and Statistics (DGBAS) said yesterday. The slowdown bucked predictions by policymakers and academics that inflationary pressures would build up following double-digit electricity rate hikes on April 1. “The latest CPI data came after the cost of eating out and rent grew moderately amid mixed international raw material prices,” DGBAS official Tsao Chih-hung (曹志弘) told a news conference in Taipei. The central bank in March raised interest rates by