TAIEX down 0.19 percent
The TAIEX closed down 0.19 percent yesterday as bargain hunters moved to recoup some of their early losses after a Wall Street dive at the end of last week amid concerns about the global economy, dealers said.
The TAIEX fell 14.74 points to 7,649.83 on turnover of NT$80.44 billion (US$2.50 billion).
“A volatile Wall Street has paved the way for the latest weakness of markets in the region. Taiwan was no exception,” Hua Nan Securities Investment Management Co (華南永昌投顧) analyst Henry Miao (苗台生) said.
Miao said that since the earnings reporting season in the US is far from over, Wall Street is expected to remain choppy.
“The steep fall in the US market on Friday is likely to be repeated in the near term. I expect the willingness to trade on the local bourse will continue to be hampered accordingly,” Miao said.
Yesterday’s selling in the local market focused largely on financial stocks, which were hit by the unsatisfactory US bank earnings reports, according to the dealers.
“However, valuations of local financial shares remain attractive after recent consolidation. The impact from external factors on their share prices might be short-lived,” Miao said.
Singapore companies to visit
A dozen Singaporean companies will visit Taiwan next month to study how to list on Taiwan’s securities and over-the-counter markets, Minister of Economic Affairs Shih Yen-shiang (施顏祥) said yesterday.
“The companies will attend an event organized by Taiwan’s GreTai Securities Market to learn about how to get listed in Taiwan,” Shih told a group of visiting overseas Taiwanese businesspeople at the Ministry of Economic Affairs.
“This is an indication of the relatively close interaction between Taiwan and Singapore recently,” he said.
Meanwhile, Shih said, the ministry is optimistic about Taiwan’s efforts to start free-trade agreement (FTA) talks with Southeast Asian countries.
Since its recent signing of a trade pact with China, Taiwan has been working to open discussions on FTAs with its other major trading partners in the region, starting with Singapore, Malaysia and the Philippines.
WiMax investment in dicussion
The government is in talks with Japanese companies such as Hitachi Ltd, Sony Corp and Fujitsu Ltd on possible investments including in the WiMax wireless broadband service, the Chinese-language Commercial Times reported yesterday, without saying where it got the information.
Minister Without Portfolio Yiin Chii-ming (尹啟銘) will lead a delegation to Japan on Sunday to continue talks with the Japanese companies, the daily said. Government officials will also discuss investments in research and development centers.
George Boyd, a Sony Corp spokesman, wasn’t immediately available for comment. Fujitsu declined to comment on the report.
Hon Hai cancels bond sale plan
Hon Hai Precision Industry Co (鴻海) canceled its 2009 European convertible-bond sale plan after the deadline passed yesterday, the Taipei-based company said in an exchange filing.
Hon Hai last year announced plans to sell US$1 billion of five-year notes and received an extension on the deadline from the Financial Supervisory Commission until yesterday. The deadline was not met because of “volatile global financial markets,” it said.
NT dollar down a notch
The New Taiwan dollar yesterday slightly weakened by NT$0.012 to close at NT$32.155 against its US counterpart on turnover of US$459 million.
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