Early gains turn to losses
The TAIEX closed 1.16 percent lower yesterday, with early gains eroded by a sell-off on political uncertainty amid criticism of the government’s response to Typhoon Morakot, dealers said.
The index fell 78.43 points to 6,654.8 on turnover of NT$102.9 billion (US$3.13 billion).
Losers outnumbered gainers 1,590 to 799, while 164 shares remained unchanged.
The market opened high on Wall Street’s overnight rise as well as on Taiwan’s better-than-expected economic performance in the second quarter.
Taiwan’s Directorate General of Budget, Accounting and Statistics said on Thursday that the economy shrank by 7.54 percent in the second quarter, after it posted a record 10.13 percent contraction in the three months to March.
“Investors dumped some major asset plays at noon, triggering the sell-off,” Capital Securities (群益證券) analyst Chen Yu-yu (陳育娛) said.
FPG donates NT$1 billion
The Formosa Plastics Group (FPG, 台塑集團) said yesterday that it would increase its aid for post-typhoon recovery and that it would donate an additional NT$1 billion to help rebuild schools in areas that were flooded by the storm.
FPG chairman William Wong (王文淵) said that after its donation of NT$300 million last week, FPG and its employees decided to contribute another NT$1 billion for reconstruction work in the south in the wake of the deadliest storm in half a century.
Wang said FPG has its own construction and engineering teams that could quickly rebuild schools and infrastructure systems.
Fubon invests in China
Fubon Financial Holding Co (富邦金控) said the board of its life insurance unit, Fubon Life Insurance Co (富邦人壽), has approved a plan to invest 250 million yuan (US$37 million) in start-up capital in a property insurance venture in China’s southern city of Xiamen, a filing to the Taiwan Stock Exchange said yesterday.
Far Eastern approves accounts
Board members at Far Eastern Textile Ltd (遠東紡織) yesterday approved first-half consolidated after-tax earnings of NT$4.34 billion, or earnings per share of NT$0.95.
In addition, the board waived a non-compete clause for senior executives at the firm.
GOME sees profits plunge
China’s troubled electrical appliances giant GOME Electrical Appliances Holdings Ltd (國美電器控股) said yesterday that its first-half net profit plunged 49.6 percent as consumers tightened their purse strings amid the economic downturn.
The Hong Kong-listed company reported that its net profit for the six months ending June had dropped to 580 million yuan, after revenues fell 17.73 percent to 20.46 million yuan over the same period.
The firm also blamed its former chairman and one of China’s richest men, Huang Guangyu (黃光裕), for the lower figures after he was arrested by Chinese authorities last year on suspicion of share manipulation in two listed companies.
“Uncertainties in the business following the police investigation of the company’s former chairman also caused some operational distractions,” the company said in a statement.
NT dollar gains ground
The New Taiwan dollar gained ground against the US dollar on the Taipei Foreign Exchange yesterday, rising NT$0.060 to close at NT$32.906. Turnover was US$620 million.
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Greek tourism student Katerina quit within a month of starting work at a five-star hotel in Halkidiki, one of the country’s top destinations, because she said conditions were so dire. Beyond the bad pay, the 22-year-old said that her working and living conditions were “miserable and unacceptable.” Millions holiday in Greece every year, but its vital tourism industry is finding it harder and harder to recruit Greeks to look after them. “I was asked to work in any department of the hotel where there was a need, from service to cleaning,” said Katerina, a tourism and marketing student, who would
i Gasoline and diesel prices at fuel stations are this week to rise NT$0.1 per liter, as tensions in the Middle East pushed crude oil prices higher last week, CPC Corp, Taiwan (台灣中油) and Formosa Petrochemical Corp (台塑石化) said yesterday. International crude oil prices last week rose for the third consecutive week due to an escalating conflict between Israel and Iran, as the market is concerned that the situation in the Middle East might affect crude oil supply, CPC and Formosa said in separate statements. Front-month Brent crude oil futures — the international oil benchmark — rose 3.75 percent to settle at US$77.01
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