TAIEX closes higher
The stock market moved higher yesterday on hopes that the European financial crisis will be resolved, dealers said.
Such optimism helped the bourse fend off technical resistance around 7,400 points to close in the positive territory, they said.
The TAIEX closed up 45.98 points or 0.62 percent at 7,428.33, after moving between 7,372.41 and 7,444.33, on turnover of NT$106.87 billion (US$3.53 billion).
First Commercial gets OK
The Financial Supervisory Commission yesterday approved state-run First Commercial Bank’s (第一銀行) application to establish its second branch in China.
The lender, the banking arm of First Financial Holding Co (第一金控), plans to open a branch in Chengdu, Sichuan Province.
Its first branch, in Shanghai, was set up late last year and will soon be allowed to operate yuan businesses after proving profitable one year after its establishment.
Hotai optimistic on sales
Hotai Motor Co (和泰汽車), Taiwan’s largest automobile retailer and the country’s Toyota dealer, yesterday said Taiwan’s car sales could still reach 370,000 units this year and that the company’s annual market share could surpass 30 percent.
Although Taiwan faces the intensifying European sovereign debt crisis and a stronger Japanese yen, its automobile market will not shrink, said Justin Su (蘇純興), Hotai president, who said the firm was likely to post a 13 percent increase compared with last year.
The company also expressed optimism that its market share will reach 32 percent and that its total car sales will hit 118,400 units: 111,100 units of Toyota and 7,300 of Lexus.
Delta-funded building opens
A new building funded by Delta Electronics Inc (台達電), the world’s largest provider of switching power supplies, opened yesterday at National Tsing Hua University in Hsinchu City.
The nine-floor building will house a research center that will work on the development of distributed cloud middleware — a core technology for cloud computing.
The Delta Building has also been certified by the Ministry of the Interior as a “green building” after reaching several ministry-imposed standards — efficient use of energy and water; high green coverage; ability to reduce waste and carbon dioxide; and acceptable sewage treatment systems.
The company has invested a total of NT$200 million in the facility.
Apple still local favorite
HTC (宏達電) brand mobile phones would be the top choice for Taiwan’s high-income earners thinking of buying a new phone, but Apple is still their favorite phone brand, according to the results of a local survey released on Wednesday.
In the survey of people with annual incomes of over NT$1 million conducted by Wealth Magazine, 43 percent of respondents said they would choose an HTC product if they were in the market for a new mobile phone, while 39 percent said they would opt for an Apple device.
However, when asked to name their favorite mobile phone brands, 40 percent of respondents preferred Apple and 37 percent said they liked HTC, the survey found.
The survey was conducted online between July 19 and Aug. 24. It gathered 1,046 valid responses and had a margin of error of plus or minus 3 percentage points.
NT dollar gains ground
The New Taiwan dollar gained ground against its US counterpart yesterday, rising NT$0.071 to close at NT$30.329.
Turnover totaled US$821 million during the trading session.
Staff writer, with agencies
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