TAIEX drops on profit taking
Share prices closed 0.67 percent lower yesterday as investors took profits from recent gains by cutting their holdings in electronics stocks, dealers said.
The weighted index fell 47.60 points at 7,033.37, off a low of 7,025.30 and a high of 7,127.84, on turnover of NT$99.43 billion (US$3.16 billion). Losers outnumbered gainers by 1,154 to 794 with 531 stocks unchanged.
Airlines post first-half losses
EVA Airways Corp (長榮航空) said yesterday that its losses had grown due to higher fuel costs.
The company posted a net loss of NT$5.97 billion for the first half, compared with NT$1.69 billion in the red recorded a year ago.
China Airlines Ltd (中華航空) also posted a wider first-half loss after fuel costs increased.
The loss was NT$6.53 billion, or NT$1.46 per share, from a loss of NT$868 million, or NT$0.22, a year earlier, the company said in a filing to the Taiwan Stock Exchange yesterday.
FSC allows Natixis application
The Financial Supervisory Commission (FSC) yesterday gave its approval to a French corporate and investment bank, Natixis Bank, to set up a liaison office in Taipei.
“The bank has inter-bank businesses with 39 domestic banks,” FSC Vice Chairwoman Lee Jih-chu (李紀珠) told a media briefing.
Founded in 1954, Natixis is the world’s 40th-largest bank with 21,959 employees and 412 billion euros (US$608.8 billion) in total assets.
Microsoft to host open house
Microsoft Corp Taiwan said yesterday it planned to host Windows VISTA Open House activities every Wednesday starting next Wednesday at its Taipei office, with its engineers meeting VISTA customers and answering any questions or grievances they might have.
However, the open house is limited to 100 people and advanced online sign-up is required, Microsoft Taiwan said.
This program came about after Microsoft Taiwan was investigated by the Fair Trade Commission for anti-trust activities related to unfair trade practices earlier this month.
A group of consumers filed a complaint saying that they were being forced to purchase the Windows Vista operating system pre-installed on desktops and notebooks. While Windows VISTA has been on the market for 21 months, Windows XP sales was discontinued in late June.
Yang Ming Marine selling ships
Yang Ming Marine Transport Corp (陽明海運), the nation’s second-largest shipping company, will sell 10 container vessels and halt two planned investments in Vietnam, it said in stock exchange filings yesterday.
Yang Ming will also suspend orders for six new 4,500-TEU container vessels, it said. Separately, the company will invest another NT$1.06 billion in its Kuang Ming (Liberia) Corp unit, it said, without providing details.
First-half earnings climbed 10 percent to NT$1.29 billion, the company reported yesterday.
Polaris, DBS in talks
Polaris International Securities Investment Trust Co (寶來投信) is in talks with DBS Group Holdings Ltd, Southeast Asia’s biggest bank, to form a venture to tap Islamic finance in Southeast Asia.
The two firms are still in discussions and haven’t reached a final decision, Alex Huang (黃昭棠), head of the index investment division at Taipei-based Polaris, said yesterday.
NT dollar rises
The New Taiwan dollar continued gaining ground against the US dollar on the Taipei Foreign Exchange yesterday, rising NT$0.002 to close at NT$31.479. Turnover was US$910 million.
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