TAIEX down 1.66 percent
Taiwanese shares dropped 1.66 percent yesterday to their lowest close in more than two months after Wall Street fell overnight over worries about the financial sector, dealers said.
The weighted index lost 145.04 points to close at 8,579.43 after moving between 8,558.46 and 8,693.48. Turnover was NT$98.37 billion (US$3.24 billion).
The previous closing low was 8,419.72 posted on April 1.
Decliners led risers 1,858 to 545, with 297 stocks unchanged.
Although foreign investors continued buying, a lack of local interest had dragged down the bourse, said Alan Tseng (曾炎裕), a research vice president of Capital Securities Corp (群益證券).
Cathay unveils new credit card
Cathay United Bank (國泰世華銀行) launched its first Phoenix titanium credit card yesterday, targeting women cardholders with an interest in free Coach VIP membership, travel and shopping benefits as well as cash rebates.
“We plan to un-wrong our past card-issuance patterns and make the Phoenix card truly prestigious for only 100,000 or so high-income women cardholders in the next two to three years,” bank vice chairman Roger Lee (李明賢) said, adding that the nation’s female cardholders’ spending power had outperformed that of male cardholders.
The titanium card will begin to charge an annual fee of NT$1,800 in the second year unless cardholders spend more than NT$120,000 a year with their cards.
The bank is the nation’s second largest card issuer with 3.4 million cardholders, 60 percent of whom are women cardholders.
CPC to resume supply
State-run CPC Corp, Taiwan (CPC, 台灣中油) intends to resume full petrochemical supply to customers in three days at the earliest after cutting output because of lower water quality at two processing units.
CPC has been supplying only 85 percent of the contracted amount of ethylene, propylene and butadiene since last Tuesday, company vice president Chu Shao-hua (朱少華) said by telephone yesterday. Water quality at the two naphtha crackers in southern Taiwan improved after rains this week, he said.
“We’re preparing to get back to normal because the reason for the reduced supply is gone,” Chu said.
Taipower sells bonds
Taiwan Power Co (Taipower, 台電), the nation’s biggest electricity producer, sold NT$8 billion in bonds to help fund new generators and grid upgrades.
The state-run utility sold NT$2.4 billion of three-year notes, NT$3.4 billion of five-year debt and NT$2.2 billion of seven-year bonds, Clint Chou (周義岳), a company spokesman, said by telephone yesterday.
“Demand is still there” for more bond sales, Chou said. The latest issue brought this year’s total so far to NT$31 billion, he said. The company looks to sell as much as NT$80 billion in bonds this year.
Taipower is also selling bonds to raise funds as surging fuel costs reduce earnings. The company may post a loss of NT$100 billion this year, widening from last year’s NT$31.2 billion, Chou said.
NT down against greenback
The NT dollar weakened yesterday as the central bank bought US dollars to curb the local currency’s recent gains, while foreign investors followed suit as local stocks tanked.
The NT dollar closed NT$0.071 lower at NT$30.290 against the greenback. The local unit closed at NT$30.219 on Monday, its strongest close since March 27.
Turnover was US$1.216 billion on the Taipei Forex Inc, lower than US$1.532 billion the previous day.
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