TAIEX edges up 0.42%
The TAIEX closed up 0.42 percent yesterday on a technical rebound led by the financial and construction sectors, following losses posted in the previous session, dealers said.
The benchmark index rose 36.90 points to a high of 8,883.21, off a low of 8,813.63, on turnover of NT$138.20 billion (US$4.73 billion).
The market opened up 0.23 percent, reflecting a fresh two-year high recorded on Wall Street overnight. Buying increased notably in late trading, boosting financial stocks in the hope that they wwill benefit from an increase in cross-strait business, dealers said.
Shares in property developers extended their upward momentum in expectation that the market will rise in the wake of a stronger New Taiwan dollar, they said.
A total of 2,040 stocks closed up, 2,146 finished down and 429 remained unchanged.
Uni-President sells shares
Uni-President Enterprises Corp (統一企業), the nation’s largest food manufacturer, sold 14 million shares in Want Want China Holdings Ltd (中國旺旺控股) for HK$89 million (US$11.45 million) over the past two days, the Taipei-based food company said in a filing with the Taiwan Stock Exchange yesterday.
Uni-President booked HK$46.6 million profit from the share sale and now holds 7 million shares in Want Want after the sale, according to the statement.
Yang Ming buys containers
Yang Ming Marine Transport Corp (陽明海運), one of Taiwan’s leading shippers, said yesterday that it is planning to spend more than NT$2 billion (US$68.56 million) buying containers this year, expecting rising demand for cargo delivery.
The plan, which the company’s board approved at a meeting on -Wednesday, includes buying 30,000 twenty-foot equivalent unit (TEU) containers. This will be the largest container purchase for Yang Ming Marine since 2008, the company said.
The shipper expects container cargo delivery volume to rise 8 percent to 9 percent this year from last year, and the new containers will be used on routes to Europe, Asia and the Americas.
Currently, Yang Ming Marine operates a fleet of 82 ships.
Shanghai bank upgraded
Taiwan Ratings Corp (中華信評) yesterday upgraded its outlook on the long-term credit rating of Shanghai Commercial and Savings Bank (上海銀行) to positive from stable on the basis of a satisfactory financial profile.
“The outlook revision mainly reflects our expectation of the bank’s increasing presence in the Greater China market, along with its existing expertise in trade finance,” Taiwan Ratings, the local arm of the Standard and Poor’s, said in a statement.
The bank’s expansion strategy will enable it to better profit from overseas markets and make it less susceptible to the competitive banking sector at home, Taiwan Ratings said.
The bank’s overseas business has contributed about one third of its total profit, it said.
NT dollar up against greenback
The New Taiwan dollar rose yesterday, approaching a 13-year high, but pared gains in the last minutes of the trading session on suspected intervention by the central bank, according to two traders who declined to be identified.
The NT dollar closed 0.4 percent higher at NT$30.101 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 was trading 1.9 percent stronger at NT$29.650 four minutes before the close.
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