TAIEX drops below 5,000
Taiwanese share prices closed down 1.48 percent yesterday as investors pocketed recent gains after a Wall Street fall overnight, dealers said.
The weighted index fell 74.31 points to 4,961.62 on turnover of NT$101.40 billion (US$3 billion).
Losers outnumbered gainers by 1,316 to 564, with 137 stocks unchanged.
The market opened up 0.48 percent, but profit-taking emerged to erode early gains with the bellwether electronic sector in focus, dealers said.
The selling pulled the market down below the key 5,000-point mark, which still served as stiff technical resistance in the short term, they said.
Fuel prices rise today
Domestic gasoline and diesel prices will both be increased by NT$0.3 per liter, effective today, state-owned oil refiner CPC Corp, Taiwan (CPC, 台灣中油) and its private rival, Formosa Petrochemical Corp (台塑石化), said yesterday.
After the adjustment, CPC’s price for a liter of 98-octane unleaded gasoline will be NT$25.5 a liter, the company said.
The firm’s 95-octane unleaded gasoline will cost NT$24.0, 92-octane unleaded gasoline will cost NT$23.3 and diesel will be priced at NT$20.5 per liter.
Slowdown enters 12th cycle
The nation is entering its 12th business cycle forming part of a slowdown that started in April last year, the Council for Economic Planning and Development said yesterday.
The council said the most recent economic expansion began in March 2005 and lasted 37 months.
The upward trend peaked in March last year, when leading and concurrent indexes started to head down, the council said in a statement.
MOEA deputy appointed
Huang Chung-chiou (黃重球) was yesterday inaugurated as the new Deputy Minister of Economic Affairs, replacing Shih Yen-shiang (施顏祥), who was recently promoted to chair the state-run CPC Corp, Taiwan (台灣中油), a ministry statement said.
Huang has served his entire career at the Ministry of Economic Affairs (MOEA) in various departments and at various posts. Most recently, he was the vice chairman of the ministry’s State-Owned Enterprise Commission. Right before that Huang was director-general of the MOEA’s Department of Industrial Technology.
Cosmos to close 12 branches
The Financial Supervisory Commission yesterday gave its approval for Cosmos Bank Taiwan (萬泰銀行) to close down 12 of its branches, mostly in the Greater Taipei area, a commission official said yesterday.
The bank’s total number of branches will be reduced to 51.
“To enhance operational efficiency, the bank has been restructuring its organization since February,” the commission said in a press statement.
Bank executives were not available for comment.
Insurer to enter PRC province
Cathay Life Insurance Co’s (國泰人壽) joint venture with China Eastern Airlines Corp (東方航空) has acquired permission from China’s Insurance Regulatory Commission to begin operations in China’s Liaoning Province, the company said in a stock exchange filing yesterday.
Cathay Life, Taiwan’s largest life insurer, formed a joint venture with China Eastern Airlines in January 2005.
NT dollar gains ground
The New Taiwan dollar gained ground against the US currency on the Taipei Foreign Exchange yesterday, rising NT$0.124 to close at NT$33.8. Turnover was US$1.25 billion.
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