TAIEX closes lower
Taiwan’s benchmark index closed down 1.68 percent yesterday as heavy selling emerged almost across the board in the face of strong technical resistance at around 9,000 points, dealers said.
The TAIEX fell 150.88 points to 8,846.31, after moving between 8,812.36 and 9,027.16, on turnover of NT$178.10 billion (US$6.10 billion).
The market opened up 0.19 percent and moved to the day’s high on a mild technical rebound from the previous session, but after the index breached the 9,000-point mark, investors began selling to lock in their significant gains from the market’s recent rally, dealers said.
A total of 3,459 stocks closed down, 1,070 finished up, and 241 remained unchanged.
Forex reserves rise
Taiwan’s foreign exchange reserves picked up US$2.75 billion to US$382.01 billion at the end of last month, boosted by gains in euro and other currencies against the US dollar, the central bank said in a statement yesterday.
The central bank also attributed the increase to returns from its foreign exchange reserve management, the statement said.
The increase does not alter Taiwan’s ranking as the world’s fourth-largest foreign exchange reserve holder after China, Japan and Russia.
Banks sign pact
First Commercial Bank (第一銀行) signed a cooperation pact with China’s Bank of Communications (交通銀行), First Financial Holding Co (第一金控), parent of the Taipei-based lender, said in a statement to the Taiwan Stock Exchange yesterday.
Airlines to launch routes
Two budget airlines — South Korea’s Air Busan and Singapore’s Tiger Airways — are launching their maiden flights in Taiwan this month.
Air Busan is set to launch its first flight between Taipei and Busan on Jan. 27, with flights available every day, according to a statement yesterday.
Air Busan, a subsidiary of Asiana Airlines that began services in October 2008, hopes to lure Taiwanese travelers with its frequent domestic flight network, such as the Seoul-Busan route and Busan-Jeju route.
Meanwhile, Tiger Airways is introducing its first flight between Taipei and Singapore on Jan. 11, with one-way prices for promotional packages as low as NT$1,920 excluding taxes.
Energy demand rises
Taiwan’s energy demand rose as electricity use by factories increased amid record industrial production.
Combined consumption of coal, petroleum, gas, thermal energy and electricity climbed 2.8 percent in November from a year earlier to the equivalent of 9.62 million kiloliters of oil, or about 2.02 million barrels a day, according to an e-mailed report from the Bureau of Energy yesterday.
Power consumption rose 6.2 percent to 20.1 billion kilowatt-hours, the energy bureau said. Consumption of petroleum products dropped 6.2 percent to the equivalent of 3.68 million kiloliters of oil in November, according to the bureau.
NT dollar little changed
The New Taiwan dollar was little changed near a 13-year high after the central bank intervened to protect exporters, traders said.
The monetary authority bought the US dollar late in the day, according to two traders who declined to be identified. The currency earlier rose as much as 3.5 percent, exchange data show.
The NT dollar closed at NT$30.211 against its US counterpart, according to Taipei Forex Inc. It reached NT$29.080 on Dec. 30, the strongest level since October 1997. The currency earlier rose to NT$29.150 before trimming gains two minutes before the 4pm close.
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