Share prices close lower
Taiwan shares closed down 1.53 percent yesterday on profit-taking led by financials, dealers said.
The TAIEX index shed 119.51 points to 7,677.91 on turnover of NT$178.6 billion (US$5.53 billion).
Losers outnumbered gainers 2,244 to 655, while 146 shares remained unchanged.
A total of 26 stocks tumbled by their 7.0 percent limit, against 18 limit-up.
The market opened stable but slid into negative territory around midday, hitting an intraday low of 7,631.06 before gaining slightly at the close.
“Any negative news reports, even rumors, can easily spark a sell-off. And that was exactly the case today,” said Mars Hsu of Grand Cathay Securities (大華證券), citing rumors that a bank was under investigation for false accounting.
Metlife sale almost complete
Hontai Life Insurance Co (宏泰人壽) and Waterland Financial Holdings Co (國票金控) are expected to compete in the bidding for Metlife Inc’s Taiwan unit, Dow Jones Newswires reported yesterday, citing a person familiar with the matter.
The unit’s sale will likely fetch between US$50 million and US$100 million, the Chinese-language Commercial Times reported yesterday, citing unnamed sources.
Cathay Financial reports profit
Cathay Financial Holding Co (國泰金控) yesterday reported a net profit of NT$960 million for last month, the company said in a press statement.
Net incomes reached NT$9.66 billion in the first 11 months of this year, or NT$1 per share, the statement said, adding that its banking subsidiary Cathay United Bank (國泰世華銀行) posted a pre-tax profit of NT$10.6 billion during the same period — the highest in five years.
Its insurance arm Cathay Life Insurance (國泰人壽) also reported rosier-than-expected first-year premium incomes of NT$28.5 billion last month, or 100 percent growth year-on-year, with a net worth above NT$100 billion, up 100 percent from one year earlier, it said.
Also, Chinatrust Financial Holding Co (中信金控) yesterday reported NT$2.72 billion in net profit for the first 11 months of this year, or NT$0.19 per share, the company said in a statement.
THSRC plans bonds sale
Taiwan High Speed Rail Corp (THSRC, 台灣高鐵), the unprofitable operator of the nation’s bullet train service, plans to sell up to NT$4 billion in corporate bonds to boost working capital, the company said in a statement yesterday.
The Taipei-based company said in an exchange filing that Mega International Commercial Bank (兆豐國際商銀) and 19 other banks will guarantee the notes.
Chains, franchises play big role
The chain store and franchise industry has played an important role in Taiwan’s economic development, with the sector’s revenue reaching NT$1.7 trillion last year, or 48 percent of the total revenue of the retail and restaurant industries, a Ministry of Economic Affairs (MOEA) official said on Wednesday.
The sector made a great contribution to the service industry’s total production value last year, which accounted for 70 percent of the US$391.3 billion in GDP that year, Yeh Yun-lung (葉雲龍), chief of the MOEA’s Department of Commerce, said at a ceremony to present accreditation certificates to 12 chain store and franchise headquarters that have performed outstandingly in service quality.
NT dollar gains on greenback
The New Taiwan dollar gained ground against the US dollar on the Taipei Foreign Exchange yesterday, rising NT$0.041 to close at NT$32.308. Turnover was US$606 million.
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