TAIEX closes above 7,900
The TAIEX staged a rebound yesterday to close above the 7,900-point level as investors took cues from a rising Wall Street overnight and comebacks on other regional markets, dealers said.
Bargain hunters took advantage of the market’s 1.22 percent dive on Monday by buying financial and high-tech stocks, helping the broader market overcome technical hurdles ahead of 7,900 points, they said.
The weighted index closed up 65.37 points, or 0.83 percent, at 7,932.71, after moving between 7,882.56 and 7,939.85, on turnover of NT$91.88 billion (US$3.09 billion).
DRAM prices hit 20-month high
Spot market prices for a benchmark DRAM chip hit a 20-month high of US$1.52 (NT$45.14) on Monday, according to the latest report released by Taipei-based market information advisory firm TrendForce Corp (集邦科技).
The spot market price of the benchmark DDR3 2Gb DRAM rose 5.55 percent in the first two business days this month from the end of last month. The 5.5 percent increase followed a 34.6 percent jump in prices in the first two months of this year from the end of last year, TrendForce said.
New Media User Lab launched
The New Media User Lab was launched on Monday as part of efforts to provide an alternative to Taiwan’s widely used TV audience survey by AGB Nielsen.
Jointly organized by local industry group Cloud & Connect TV Forum and the state-run Institute for Information Industry, the new platform aims to regularly offer audience rating surveys on a wider range of media, such as digital TVs, connected TVs and smart TVs.
Sixty-six local companies, including cable TV operators, academic institutions, content providers and media agencies, have applied to join the lab, which uses set-top boxes to rapidly collect samples through cloud-computing technology, the forum said.
The lab has established a sample pool of 150,000 nationwide users and the numbers are expected to grow to 300,000 next year with more cable system operators joining the platform, it said.
Buyers invited to meetings
Taiwan has invited 600 international buyers from 60 economies to attend procurement meetings in Taipei on March 28 in a bid to strengthen the country’s exports, Taiwan’s main trade promotions body said on Monday.
One-on-one procurement meetings with domestic businesses will be arranged for the 600 potential foreign buyers, and they are expected to generate US$4.6 billion in business opportunities, about US$100 million more than last year, the Taiwan External Trade Development Council said.
The foreign buyers invited by the council are mainly in the information and communications technology, machinery, solar energy, LED and automobile parts and components sectors.
Forex reserves stable
Taiwan’s foreign exchange reserves amounted to US$404.08 billion as of the end of last month, a decrease of US$2.48 billion from January, maintaining the nation’s position as having the world’s fourth-largest foreign exchange reserves behind China, Japan and Russia, the central bank said yesterday.
“The euro and other major currencies depreciated against the US dollar last month, making a decrease in foreign exchange reserves greater than the returns from foreign exchange reserves management,” said Lin Sun-yuan (林孫源), director-general of the bank’s department of foreign exchange.
The market value of securities investments and New Taiwan dollar deposits held by foreign investors reached US$225.2 billion at the end of last month, equivalent to 56 percent of foreign exchange reserves, the bank said.
NT dollar up NT$0.05
The New Taiwan dollar rose against the US dollar yesterday, adding NT$0.05 to close at NT$29.720.
Turnover totaled US$766 million during the trading session.
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