TAIEX closes up
The TAIEX closed up 0.18 percent yesterday as buying in select old economy stocks extended from the previous session and offset weakness in the semiconductor sector, dealers said.
The TAIEX rose 14.18 points to 7,798.99, after moving between 7,738.48 and 7,799.57, on turnover of NT$118.76 billion (US$3.71 billion).
The market opened flat amid cautious sentiment after the US reported worse than expected durable goods orders data overnight, dealers said.
Although rotational buying emerged to pick up foodstuff and cement stocks, once the index fell to the support level of 7,700 several major integrated circuit shares continued to weaken ahead of the release second quarter results.
A total of 1,683 stocks closed up and 1,736 down, with 327 remaining unchanged.
Chunghwa Telecom signs MOU
Chunghwa Telecom Co (中華電信), the largest telecoms operator in Taiwan, said yesterday that it has signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) with Swaziland Posts and Telecommunications Corp (SPTC) to facilitate future cooperation and improve the quality of service provided by the African company.
Chunghwa Telecom chairman Lu Shyue-ching (呂學錦) and SPTC chairman Amon Dlamini signed the MOU in Taipei yesterday.
The MOU is aimed at broadening the scope of cooperation, to provide technological assistance and share Internet development with Swaziland, which is one of Taiwan’s diplomatic allies, Chunghwa Telecom said.
Fifth CD auction launched
The central bank is set to auction another NT$100 billion in 364-day certificates of deposit (CD) on Aug. 9 as it continues to absorb excessive funds in the market. That will mark the bank’s fifth auction of such CDs this year.
The previous four sales of CDs with a total value of NT$400 billion were considered tantamount to hiking the reserve requirement ratio by 1.58 percentage points.
The central bank raised its key policy rates by 0.125 percentage points and adopted selective credit controls last month to absorb excess liquidity in the banking system and to rein in rocketing housing prices in the Greater Taipei area.
The last sale of CDs yielded an average interest rate of 0.729 percent with a bid-to-cover ratio of 3.8 times, compared with an average interest rate of 0.67 percent from the sales on June 11, which had a bid-to-cover ratio of 3.72 times.
Private placements probed
The Financial Supervisory Commission (FSC) is set to hold a public hearing today to solicit opinion on its plan to strengthen regulations on public company fund-raising via private placements, in addition to banks and financial holding companies.
The FSC said on Tuesday that financially healthy public companies should also raise capital through public offerings rather than private placements, the same as banks and financial holdings, but added that relevant regulations must be amended first.
Data provided by the FSC showed that in the first half of this year, the amount of funds raised by public companies through private placements was NT$58.64 billion, accounting for only 18.3 percent of total capital raised via both public offerings and private placements.
NT dollar closes up
The New Taiwan dollar continued to gain ground against the US dollar yesterday, rising NT$0.002 to close at NT$32.068.
Turnover totaled US$694 million during the trading session.
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