Shares close lower
Taiwanese shares closed lower yesterday, with the TAIEX index falling 28.07 points, or 0.34 percent, to close at 8,220.93.
The local bourse opened at the day’s high of 8,309.19 and experienced a low of 8,191.44.
A total of 5.01 billion shares changed hands on market turnover of NT$140.99 billion (US$4.42 billion). Foreign institutional investors and China qualified domestic institutional investors were buyers of NT$250 million in shares.
All eight major stock categories lost ground, with banking and financial shares dropping the most at 1.6 percent.
Losers outnumbered gainers 2,151 to 984, with 235 stocks remaining unchanged.
Pacific Distribution in probe
The Ministry of Economic Affairs’ Commerce Department said yesterday it would launch a probe into the recapitalization of Pacific Distribution Investment Co (太平洋流通) by Far Eastern Group (遠東集團), casting uncertainty on the group’s ownership of Pacific Sogo Department Stores Co (太平洋崇光百貨).
Sogo is the nation’s second-largest department store chain and nearly 80 percent owned by Pacific Distribution as of August. Far Eastern Group injected capital into Pacific Distribution in 2002, which allowed it indirect control.
The department would announce the outcome of its probe in two weeks, Deputy Director Lee Mei (李鎂) said at a press briefing.
A Taiwan High Court ruling in late October found that Pacific Distribution “falsified facts” that documented the recapitalization process during a shareholder meeting in September 2002. The court asked the ministry to revoke Pacific Distribution’s company registration over board member changes and the 2002 recapitalization from NT$10 million to NT$1.01 billion.
The ministry would also probe the legality of Pacific Distribution’s subsequent company registrations from 2003 to 2006, Lee said.
Far EasTone, Ericsson link up
Far EasTone Telecommunications Co (遠傳電信), Taiwan’s No. 3 telecom company, yesterday inked a contract with telecom equipment maker Ericsson to expand its 2G/GSM and 3G/HSPA network.
That would be the largest HSPA network investment this year, ensuring full coverage in Taiwan within three years.
Under the agreement, Ericsson will help Far EasTone upgrade and expand HSPA coverage, implement radio optimization and tuning services, expand its 3G core network capacity and improve HSPA indoor coverage.
The network upgrade will improve download speed by up to 21 megabits per second and uplink speed to 1.4 megabits per second, allowing access to interactive mobile broadband services such as cellphone uploads.
NT dollar in big fall
The New Taiwan dollar fell the most since April last year on speculation that the central bank will intervene to curb appreciation, which may hurt exports.
The NT dollar fell 0.6 percent to NT$31.990 against its US counterpart at the 4pm close, according to Taipei Forex Inc. It reached NT$31.695 on Jan. 15, its strongest level since September 2008.
Taiwan is right to warn investors of excessive speculation in stocks that fed the biggest rally in the local currency in five years, according to a UN official whose opinions were cited by the central bank to justify capital curbs. The NT dollar gained 2.6 percent last year against the US dollar as warming ties with China helped to attract funds.
“People are careful in trading as they remain concerned about the central bank’s moves,” said Yang Kung-yi (楊恭逸), a currency trader at Shanghai Commercial & Savings Bank (上海商銀). “Fund inflows from China may be bolstering the Taiwan dollar.”
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