TAIEX climbs 0.81 percent
The TAIEX closed up 0.81 percent yesterday, with trading volume plunging to NT$54.29 billion (US$1.8 billion), its lowest level since Feb. 2, 2009.
The market opened up 101.68 points after the opening bell, sending the index to the day’s high of 7,002.09 before it fell below the psychological level of 7,000 points a short time after noon to close at 6,949.04 on weak trading volume.
The TAIEX closed up 55.74 points, boosted by a surge on Wall Street and in European markets on Friday, on turnover of NT$54.29 billion.
A total of 1,647 stocks closed up and 1,635 were down, with 507 remaining unchanged.
AGV stocks climb 1.13 percent
Shares of AGV Products Corp (愛之味), a Taiwanese drinks and food-product maker, climbed 1.13 percent to NT$8.94 yesterday after the company announced a share buyback scheme last week to prop up its flagging share prices.
In a statement to the Taiwan Stock Exchange on Friday, the company said it would repurchase 20 million shares, or 4 percent of total outstanding stock, for between NT$6.73 and NT$14.46 from yesterday through Feb. 10. The company would then transfer the repurchased shares to its employees, the statement said.
Yuanta, Polaris approve merger
The boards of Yuanta Investment Trust (元大投信) and Polaris Investment Trust (寶來投信) yesterday gave approval for a merger plan that is slated to go into effect on May 6, Yuanta said in a statement.
The merger will give the integrated firm, Yuanta Polaris Investment Trust, a market share of 17.6 percent, ahead of peers in the domestic market and ranking it as one of the world’s top 400 fund managers, the statement said.
The merger scheme will allow Polaris shareholders to swap each of their shares for 1.4388 shares in Yuanta, with the paid-in capital of Yunta Polaris standing at NT$2.27 billion, the statement said.
As of last month, assets under management at the two firms totaled NT$321.7 billion, the statement said.
Trendnet to build logistics hub
The Ministry of Economic Affairs has signed a letter of intent with Trendnet, a US-based network solution provider, for future investment in Taiwan, a Chinese-language newspaper reported yesterday.
California-based Trendnet plans to set up a logistics hub in Taiwan to manage Asia-Pacific operations, with an initial capital of NT$150 million, the Economic Daily News reported.
The logistics hub will be based in either Greater Taichung or Greater Kaohsiung, the paper said, citing Ling Chia-yuh (凌家裕), a director-general of the ministry’s Department of Investment Services.
Bank of China follows mergers
Bank of China Ltd (中國銀行) “will pay attention to” merger and acquisition opportunities overseas as it follows Chinese corporate clients into new markets, Bank of China president Li Lihui (李禮輝) said after opening a branch in Japan.
China’s third-largest lender by total assets will also add branches in markets where it already has a presence, Li was quoted as saying in the transcript of an interview posted to the bank’s Web site yesterday. Bank of China sees further opportunities in Japan arising from trade between the two countries, Li said.
NT climbs against greenback
The New Taiwan dollar rose against the US dollar yesterday, adding NT$0.009 to close at NT$30.230.
Turnover totaled US$488 million during the trading session.
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