TAIEX rises above 7,000 mark
The TAIEX staged a technical rebound yesterday from heavy losses seen a session earlier and closed above the psychological 7,000-point mark as investors embraced hopes that an upcoming summit of the European Commission can figure out a solution to the debt crisis in the region, dealers said.
Buying on the local bourse focused on select large cap stocks in the petrochemical, food and flat panel sectors, prompting the market to suspect the government stepped in to lend support during trade to help the market return to the 7,000-point level, they said.
The TAIEX rose 76.72 points or 1.1 percent to close at 7,033.00 points, after moving between 6,992.27 and 7,046.39, on turnover of NT$76.43 billion (US$2.53 billion).
Chinatrust profits up
Chinatrust Financial Holding Co (中信金控), the nation’s third-largest financial services provider, posted NT$2.38 billion (US$78.86 million) in net profit last month, more than double the earnings one month earlier, thanks to successful investments and growing income from fees, the company said in a statement yesterday.
The bank-centric conglomerate also benefited from its recent acquisition of MetLife Taiwan Life Insurance Co (大都會人壽), which generated a NT$258 million profit, the statement said.
For the first 11 months, net income totaled to NT$17.76 billion, translating into NT$1.57 earnings per share, the statement said.
Chinatrust Commercial Bank’s (中國信託商銀) bad loan ratio dropped to 0.33 percent last month, from 0.36 percent in October, while the coverage ratio rose to 357.74 percent from 327.08 percent, it said.
Mobile payment on horizon
Taiwan’s largest telecoms operator plans to team up with the metro card operating company and Mastercard to offer a new service that would allow customers to use their handsets as credit/debit cards.
Chunghwa Telecom Co (中華電信) said yesterday it would team up with Easycard Corp (悠遊卡公司) and MasterCard Paypass to introduce a mobile payment service — a method of payment that is common in Japan.
However, initially, the service would be available only to iPhone4/4S users. The phone would be encased in an Easy, Near Field Communication (NFC) and Paypass cover, which can be used to pay metro fares and purchase goods, Chunghwa said.
Chunghwa said it hopes handset manufactures would allow the insertion of a mobile payment chip in the future to provide customers with a more convenient service.
Acer confident on outlook
PC brand Acer Inc (宏碁) intends to ship 10 percent more notebook computers next year and remain profitable thanks to sales of ultra--thin laptops and demand from emerging markets, chief executive officer and chairman J.T. Wang (王振堂) said yesterday.
Wang told Dow Jones Newswires in an interview that the company’s strategy to expand market share would now focus more on improving profit margins rather than low prices.
Powertech files lawsuit
Powertech Technology Inc (力成科技), the nation’s biggest computer memorychip packager, filed a declaratory action and breach of contract lawsuit in the US District Court, Northern District of California, against Tessera Technologies Inc, the Taiwan-based company said in a statement to the Taiwan Stock Exchange yesterday.
NT dollar makes gains
The New Taiwan dollar gained ground against the US dollar yesterday, rising NT$0.057 to close at NT$30.168.
Turnover totaled US$444 million during the trading session.
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