Profit-taking limits shares
Share prices closed down 0.22 percent in Taipei yesterday, reversing earlier gains due to profit-taking, dealers said.
The TAIEX fell 17.15 points to 7,739.16 on turnover of NT$125.86 billion (US$3.93 billion). Losers led gainers by 1,588 to 998 with 290 stocks unchanged.
Investors took profits ahead of the US Thanksgiving holiday after the local market opened up 38.95 points to 7,795.26, said Michael Lin of Fubon Securities (富邦證券).
“They are also waiting to see how Thanksgiving sales are before taking any action,” he said.
Wall Street will be closed until Monday, and some foreign investors are expected to be absent due to the holiday.
Chinese bank’s shares slide
Shares of major lender China Minsheng Banking Corp (中國民生銀行) slid more than 3 percent in their first day of trade in Hong Kong yesterday amid anxiety this year’s stimulus-fed credit surge might weigh on the industry’s profits.
Minsheng’s stock closed down 3.2 percent to HK$8.79 (US$1.13) after the company raised some US$3.8 billion in Hong Kong’s biggest initial public offering of the year. Shares had been sold at HK$9.08, near the middle of a range of possible prices.
Analysts attributed the lackluster debut to a combination of bad timing, high price and worries that Minsheng and other banks may need to raise more money to offset any bad loans resulting from China’s enormous stimulus-fed credit boom.
Science park delegates meet
A joint meeting of representatives from Asia-based science parks opened yesterday in Hsinchu City with the aim of boosting regional cooperation and forging business opportunities.
The meeeting was sponsored by the Hsinchu Science Industrial Park Administration.
The meeting was opened by park Administrator Randy Yen (顏宗明), with National Science Council Minister Lee Lou-chuang (李羅權) and Hsinchu Mayor Lin Junq-tzer (林政則) in attendence. Other guests included Asian Science Park Association (ASPA) chairman Lee Jong Hyun and International Association of Science Parks (IASP) secretary-general Luis Sanz.
During the meeting Yen signed a memorandum of understanding on bilateral cooperation with Nguyen Van Lang, representative of the Vietnam-based Hoa Lac Hi-tech Park.
Philips faces EU charges
EU antitrust regulators have charged Royal Philips Electronics NV and others with running a cartel to fix the price of cathode ray tubes used in televisions and computer monitors, the EU executive and Philips said yesterday.
The European Commission did not name any of the companies it had charged. It said companies could defend themselves in writing and at an oral hearing before it decides to levy fines which can run as high as up to 10 percent of annual global turnover for each year the cartel operated.
Philips said in a statement that it had received the charges and “intends to continue assisting the regulatory authorities in these investigations.”
The EU probe focuses on cathode ray tubes used in computer monitors and color picture tubes used in TVs, and builds on surprise raids on companies to seek evidence in November 2007.
Regulators also charged Philips in July with fixing the price of liquid-crystal-display monitors.
NT dollar declines
The New Taiwan dollar lost ground against the US dollar on the Taipei Foreign Exchange yesterday, declining by NT$0.008 to close at NT$32.244. Turnover was US$633 million.
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