Stocks at new seven-year high
Shares closed up 1.45 percent yesterday, striking another near seven-year high on Wall Street where US economic data alleviated concerns over possible interest rate hikes, dealers said.
They said insurance companies led the market higher on expectations of an improvement in earnings after a statutory revision, which should allow them greater exposure to overseas investments.
The TAIEX closed up 122.92 points at 8,573.64, the highest closing level since July 18, 2000, when the index hit 8,582.75 points.
The market moved in a range between 8,511.07 and 8,578.33 points on turnover of NT$151.73 billion (US$4.58 billion).
For the week to yesterday, the weighted index closed up 272.93 points or 3.29 percent after a 0.62 percent gain the previous week.
Average daily turnover stood at NT$141.34 billion, compared with NT$135.15 billion a week ago.
Capitalization up 22.3%
Market capitalization of Taiwan's listed and over-the-counter (OTC) stocks stood at NT$22.33 trillion (US$675.75 billion) at the end of last month, up 22.3 percent from the same period last year, the Directorate General of Budget, Accounting and Statistics (DGBAS) reported yesterday.
DGBAS officials said that thanks to a booming stock market, the weighted index, the barometer of the stock market, increased to 8,144.95 at the end of last month, up 1,298 points year-on-year.
The market capitalization of the listed stocks totaled NT$20.16 trillion, up 20.4 percent year-on-year, while the stocks traded amounted to NT$10.52 trillion, down 3.6 percent from the same period last year.
The index measuring value of over-the-counter stocks rose to 181 last month, up 39 points from the same period last year. The number of over-the-counter shares also increased to 533 with a market capitalization totaling NT$2.17 trillion and shares traded amounting to NT$3.11 trillion.
NCC allows tainted merger
The nation's telecom regulator yesterday approved a merger between local fixed-line company Asia Pacific Broadband Telecom Co (APBT, 亞太固網) and its mobile affiliate Asia Pacific Broadband Wireless Communications Inc (APBW, 亞太行動寬頻), the National Communications Commission (NCC) said on its Web site.
Deutsche Bank expressed disappointment at the decision. The German bank, APBT's credit bank, opposed the merger after the debt-ridden APBT failed to pay interest on a NT$6.8 billion bank loan arranged last year with APBW's assets as guarantee.
"Deutsche Bank and the lenders are deeply disappointed with the NCC decision and will continue to seek recovery of APBW's unpaid debts through the courts," it said in a statement released yesterday.
The NCC said the merger would not affect in any way the interests of the Germany lender.
CD-ROM tax expires
The EU will terminate its anti-dumping tax on Taiwanese-made CD-ROMs this month when a five-year EU anti-dumping tax program expires, officials from the Bureau of Foreign Trade said on Thursday.
The European Commission said recently that the anti-dumping tax on imports of Taiwanese CD-ROMS, imposed on June 18, 2002, would not be extended when the program expires on Monday, bureau officials said.
Over the past five years, the European Commission has imposed anti-dumping taxes, ranging from 17.7 percent to 38.5 percent, on Taiwanese CD-ROMs.
The commission began a fresh probe into CDs from Taiwan in March, but received no inquiries nor complaints from any EU firms about the imports, prompting the commission to bring the measure to an end, bureau officials said.
DIVIDED VIEWS: Although the Fed agreed on holding rates steady, some officials see no rate cuts for this year, while 10 policymakers foresee two or more cuts There are a lot of unknowns about the outlook for the economy and interest rates, but US Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell signaled at least one thing seems certain: Higher prices are coming. Fed policymakers voted unanimously to hold interest rates steady at a range of 4.25 percent to 4.50 percent for a fourth straight meeting on Wednesday, as they await clarity on whether tariffs would leave a one-time or more lasting mark on inflation. Powell said it is still unclear how much of the bill would fall on the shoulders of consumers, but he expects to learn more about tariffs
NOT JUSTIFIED: The bank’s governor said there would only be a rate cut if inflation falls below 1.5% and economic conditions deteriorate, which have not been detected The central bank yesterday kept its key interest rates unchanged for a fifth consecutive quarter, aligning with market expectations, while slightly lowering its inflation outlook amid signs of cooling price pressures. The move came after the US Federal Reserve held rates steady overnight, despite pressure from US President Donald Trump to cut borrowing costs. Central bank board members unanimously voted to maintain the discount rate at 2 percent, the secured loan rate at 2.375 percent and the overnight lending rate at 4.25 percent. “We consider the policy decision appropriate, although it suggests tightening leaning after factoring in slackening inflation and stable GDP growth,”
Meta Platforms Inc offered US$100 million bonuses to OpenAI employees in an unsuccessful bid to poach the ChatGPT maker’s talent and strengthen its own generative artificial intelligence (AI) teams, OpenAI CEO Sam Altman has said. Facebook’s parent company — a competitor of OpenAI — also offered “giant” annual salaries exceeding US$100 million to OpenAI staffers, Altman said in an interview on the Uncapped with Jack Altman podcast released on Tuesday. “It is crazy,” Sam Altman told his brother Jack in the interview. “I’m really happy that at least so far none of our best people have decided to take them
PLANS: MSI is also planning to upgrade its service center in the Netherlands Micro-Star International Co (MSI, 微星) yesterday said it plans to set up a server assembly line at its Poland service center this year at the earliest. The computer and peripherals manufacturer expects that the new server assembly line would shorten transportation times in shipments to European countries, a company spokesperson told the Taipei Times by telephone. MSI manufactures motherboards, graphics cards, notebook computers, servers, optical storage devices and communication devices. The company operates plants in Taiwan and China, and runs a global network of service centers. The company is also considering upgrading its service center in the Netherlands into a
RSS