■ Stocks edge up
Share prices closed 1.02 percent higher yesterday, recovering on Wall Street's rebound overnight as the markets came to terms with an expected US Federal Reserve rate hike later in the day, dealers said.
They said sentiment picked up as investors hoped that the Fed will at least deliver some clarity on the outlook for interest rates even as it hikes rates again by an expected 25 basis points to 5.25 percent.
The TAIEX rose 66.46 points at 6,607.39, on turnover of NT$91.55 billion (US$2.8 billion).
Taiwan Semiconductor Manu-facturing Co (TSMC, 台積電), the world's largest made-to-order chip supplier, rose 1.1 percent to NT$56.70. MediaTek Inc (聯發科), the world's largest maker of chips for DVD players, added 1 percent to NT$296.0.
■ Bluescope to shut facilities
Australia's largest steelmaker Bluescope Steel announced plans yesterday to close its manufacturing operations in Taiwan and cut around 3 percent of its workforce as it battles to contain costs.
The company said higher raw material prices had prompted the restructuring program, which will also see the closure of its loss-making Australian tin mill.
Ninety jobs will go when Bluescope closes its manufacturing facilities and exits the construction market in Taiwan by October.
A further 250 management and staff jobs will be cut across all its operations.
Kathryn Fagg, the company's president in Asia, said the Taiwan business was a stand-alone operation and had become unviable because it could not profitably gain leverage on other BlueScope Steel operations.
■ Carlyle bid to be reviewed
Carlyle Group's NT$47.6 billion (US$1.5 billion) bid to control Eastern Multimedia Co (東森媒體科技) and cable television affiliates will be reviewed next month by the nation's regulator.
The Investment Commission will hold a meeting "probably in the first half of July" to review the bid, Emile Chang (張銘斌), deputy executive secretary of the commission, said yesterday after the regulator held its monthly meeting. "No committee members opposed the investment," Chang said.
■ Proxy vote rules may change
The Financial Supervisory Com-mission is mulling changes to the proxy vote solicitation mechanism to prevent shareholders from using proxy votes in struggles to gain management power, the commission said yesterday.
Shares that are collateralized would be excluded or discounted before being included in the calculation of effective shareholding required to solicit proxy votes, the commission's acting chairman Lu Daung-yen (呂東英) said.
In addition, the value of gifts would be restricted, as companies often give high-priced items like electric massagers to solicit shareholders' proxy votes and dodge regulations that ban using cash to acquire proxy votes, he said.
Also, the minimum shareholding required for the collective solicitation of proxy votes, currently at 8 percent to 10 percent, could be raised, but the level of the increase will await discussion at the economic sustainable development conference, the official said.
The changes will be determined at the conference, he said.
■ NT dollar closes higher
The New Taiwan dollar firmed yesterday due to a 1.02 percent rally on the TAIEX, but traders remained cautious ahead of the US Federal Reserve's decision on interest rates later in the day.
The NT dollar ended NT$0.035 higher at NT$32.620 against the US dollar on the Taipei foreign exchange market, on turnover of US$680 million.
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