TAIEX closes at year’s high
Taiwanese shares rose 2.01 percent yesterday to close at a new high for the year, boosted by hopes that a special budget for a government stimulus package would be passed.
The weighted index, the market’s key barometer, advanced 114.16 points to close at 5,781.96, following gains on Wall Street and regional markets.
The TAIEX rose 252.33 points, or 4.56 percent, for the week.
Finishing higher for the second consecutive session, the local bourse opened at 5,784.90 and fluctuated between 5,788.21 and 5,696.56.
A total of 7.95 billion shares changed hands on market turnover of NT$160.14 billion (US$4.74 billion), the second-highest turnover in a session this year.
Foreign investors were net buyers of NT$12.1 billion in shares.
One analyst predicted that the market would sustain its upward moment because of sufficient liquidity even as profit-taking and other pressures try to pull the market lower in the coming days.
Gas, diesel prices raised
Gasoline and diesel prices will increase by NT$0.60 and NT$0.70 per liter respectively today, state-owned oil refiner CPC Corp, Taiwan (CPC, 台灣中油) and its private rival, Formosa Petrochemical Corp (台塑石化), announced yesterday.
After the price adjustment, CPC’s price for a liter of 98-octane unleaded gasoline will be NT$27. The price of 95-octane unleaded gasoline will be NT$25.50, and 92-octane unleaded gasoline will cost NT$24.80 per liter, the company said. Diesel will be priced at NT$22.1 per liter, it added.
Formosa reopens facility
Formosa Petrochemical Corp (台塑石化) restarted a fuel oil unit after closing it for 35 days for scheduled maintenance.
The 80,000 barrel-a-day residue desulphurization facility in Mailiao resumed production on Sunday, Lin Keh-yen (林克彥), a company spokesman, said by telephone yesterday.
The facility was closed on March 1.
Formosa Petrochemical expects to process an average of 450,000 barrels of crude oil a day this month, higher than 400,000 barrels a day last month, after the stoppage ended, Lin said.
The company has the capacity to process 540,000 barrels of crude oil daily.
ProMOS delays settlement
ProMOS Technologies Inc (茂德科技), the nation’s most unprofitable memory chip maker, said settlement of its discounted tender offer for convertible bonds had been postponed from last Friday to next Friday, it said in a filing to the Taiwan Stock Exchange yesterday.
Fubon’s profit drops 34 percent
Fubon Financial Holding Co (富邦金控), the nation’s second-largest listed financial-services company, posted a first-quarter profit of NT$2.24 billion (US$66 million), or NT$0.28 a share, it said in an exchange filing yesterday.
That was 34 percent lower than the NT$3.37 billion in profit a year earlier and included a loss from Antai Life Insurance Co (安泰人壽), which Fubon Financial acquired in February, the company said.
NT dollar ends week down
The New Taiwan dollar recorded its first weekly decline since February after the central bank reportedly stepped in to weaken the currency and help exporters weather a global recession.
The NT dollar closed at NT$33.795 against the greenback yesterday, down from NT$33.777 on Thursday and NT$33.38 at the end of last week, Taipei Forex Inc said.
The local currency dropped 1.2 percent versus the US dollar this week, the worst performer among Asia’s 10 most-active currencies.
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