TAIEX drops below 7,400 mark
The TAIEX fell 1.42 percent yesterday, with old economy, electronics and financial stocks leading the benchmark index’s fall past the 7,400 mark.
Sentiment was weak following the government’s release on Monday of last month’s composite monitoring economic indicators, which indicated an economic slump for the ninth straight month.
The index ranged between a high of 7,445.08 and a low of 7,359.83 before finishing down 106.28 points at 7,361.94 on turnover of NT$72.63 billion (US$2.42 billion).
A total of 1,125 stocks closed up, 3,295 finished down and 247 remained unchanged.
All eight major stock categories lost ground, with food shares suffering the steepest fall, shedding 2.4 percent.
Foxconn files first-half loss
Foxconn International Holdings Ltd (FIH, 富士康控股), the phone unit of the world’s biggest contract maker of electronics Hon Hai Precision Industry Co (鴻海精密), reported a US$226 million loss for the first half of the year after the global economic slowdown reduced demand for handsets.
Net income fell more than 12-fold from a loss of US$17.6 million a year ago, as sales slid 16 percent to US$2.5 billion, according to a statement to the Hong Kong stock exchange on Monday.
FIH warned in April that its net loss for the first six months of the year might widen “significantly” on weaker demand from its major customers.
Past-due loan ratio dips
The non-performing loan ratio dropped to 0.55 percent at the end of last month, down one basis point from one month earlier, as the asset quality of domestic lenders further improved, the Financial Supervisory Commission said in a statement yesterday.
Bad loans totaled NT$121.8 billion as of July 31, from NT$123.1 billion at the end of June, while outstanding loans gained NT$182.6 billion to NT$22.21 trillion during the period, the commission said in a statement.
Of the nation’s 38 lenders, only Cosmos Bank (萬泰銀行) had a non-performing loan ratio of above 2 percent, while the coverage ratio averaged 196.45 percent, up from 192.45 percent one month earlier, according to the statement.
New investments approved
The Export Processing Zone Administration on Monday approved the applications of five companies, including Daxin Materials Corp (達興材料), to set up business units in three export processing zones with total investment of NT$4.47 billion, creating about 565 jobs.
These investments will be made in Chungkang Export Processing Zone in Greater Taichung, the Kaohsiung Processing Zone and Kaohsiung Software Technology Park in Greater Kaohsiung, the administration said in a statement.
The number of new investment cases in the export processing zones totaled 102 in the first seven months of the year, with aggregate investment reaching NT$39.97 billion, the administration said.
A total of 71,091 people are employed in the zones, up 2,944 from last year, it said.
New boss for Capital Securities
The board of Capital Securities Corp (群益證券) yesterday approved the appointment of former Hua Nan Commercial Bank (華南銀行) president Alex Wang (王濬智) to its helm after Liu Ching-tsun (劉敬村) tendered his resignation as chairman, effective Monday next week.
The board also approved the resignation of Chou Kang-chi (周康記) as president, effective Saturday, a company statement said.
NT dollar slips
The New Taiwan dollar dropped NT$0.027 to close at NT$30.007 against the US dollar yesterday on turnover of US$574 million.
Staff writer, with agencies
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