Tue, Sep 01, 2009 page11

• [BUSINESS BRIEFS]

  • STAFF WRITER, WITH AGENCIES
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  Market subdued over visit

  Taiwanese shares closed up 0.24 percent yesterday, but trade was quiet amid concerns about the possible impact on ties with China from the Dalai Lama’s visit. The weighted index rose 16.09 points to 6,825.95 on turnover of NT$85.45 billion (US$2.6 billion).

  The market opened up 0.51 percent on follow-through buying from Friday, but profit-taking emerged to compromise gains amid concerns over the Dalai Lama’s visit, dealers said.

  “The turnover was thin with many investors sidelined, watching carefully how the event will develop,” Mega Securities (兆豐證券) analyst Alex Huang (黃國偉) said. “But I believe the impact on the market will be only psychological as there is no turning back for cross-strait economic exchanges.”

  Financial stocks encountered pressure as investors were afraid that Taiwan and China will not sign a memorandum of understanding to facilitate banking activities in the second half of this year.

  China Southern profit plummets

  China Southern Airlines Ltd (南方航空), one of China’s three major state-owned carriers, said yesterday its first-half profit fell 97 percent because of falling revenue and lower foreign exchange gains.

  Profit was 25 million yuan (US$3.7 million), or 0.004 yuan per share, the carrier said. That compared with 818 million yuan in the first half of last year.

  Traffic revenue fell 9.8 percent to 23.6 billion yuan, despite an increase in volume. International routes were the most affected.

  China’s state-owned airlines are struggling with weak demand amid the economic crisis and have received billions of dollars in aid.

  China Southern’s earnings were also hit by a decline in foreign exchange gains in the first half of the year due to a slowing in the yuan’s appreciation against the US dollar.

  Guangzhou-based China Southern reported a 4.8 billion yuan loss last year.

  Bank of Taiwan to hit HK

  Bank of Taiwan (台灣銀行) yesterday said it would start operation of its wealth-management businesses next month in Hong Kong after that territory’s financial regulator approved an application by the nation’s largest state-owned bank.

  The bank said in a press statement that it would prioritize sales of mutual funds at its Hong Kong branch, especially those linked to equities in the Greater China market, to differentiate between sales in Hong Kong and Taiwan.

  The bank said it would diversify sales of financial products in Hong Kong to liberalize asset allocations of wealth-management customers.

  The bank added that it had dispatched wealth-management consultants from Taiwan since last year to facilitate the new branch office’s preparations.

  Tour sales down in Singapore

  The fall fair organized by the National Association of Travel Agents in Singapore yesterday came to an end after overall sales saw 15 percent growth year-on-year to total S$67 million (US$46.5 million).

  Some 62,000 visitors attended this year’s travel fair, compared with 65,000 visitors last year.

  During the three-day expo, however, Taiwanese travel agents sold only 3,501 Taiwan-bound packaged tours, 100 tours less than the number of deals closed last year.

  A Singapore-based Taiwanese tourism official yesterday attributed this year’s slower sales to Typhoon Morakot and the spread of swine flu, which had scared away many potential tourists.

  NT dollar improves

  The New Taiwan dollar yesterday advanced slightly by NT$0.002 to close at NT$32.923 against the greenback on turnover of US$676 million.
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