Shares close lower
Share prices closed lower on the Taiwan Stock Exchange yesterday, with the TAIEX index falling 93.06 points, or 1.13 percent, to close at 8,127.87.
The local bourse opened at 8,189.5 and reached the day’s high of 8,208.21 around the middle of the session, while experiencing a low of 8,107.55 at one point. The index regained some ground before close of business.
A total of 4.6 billion shares changed hands on market turnover of NT$128.56 billion (US$4.02 billion).
Foreign institutional investors and Chinese qualified domestic institutional investors were net buyers of NT$150 million in shares.
All eight major stock categories lost ground, with textile issues dropping the most at 3.9 percent. Losers outnumbered gainers 2,571 to 557, with 190 stocks remaining unchanged.
Petrochemicals outlook mixed
Formosa Plastics Corp (台塑) chairman Lee Chih-tsuen (李志村) said yesterday the market for his company’s petrochemicals in the first half “looks OK.”
Lee said that was partly because some rivals based in the middle east are short of natural gas, used as a raw material, at a press conference held in Mailiao (麥寮), Yunlin County.
Banks slapped with suspension
The Financial Supervisory Commission yesterday suspended Yuanta Commercial Bank (元大商銀) and King’s Town Commercial Bank (京城商銀) from undertaking trust businesses respectively in the next nine and six months as both have incurred flaws in the negotiations with their investors of loss-making structured note products, a commission official said.
Both banks have also recorded the lowest rate of settlement with their investors respectively at 62 percent and 68 percent, while the overall domestic banking sector has reconciled with 81 percent with its investors in disputed investments of structured notes, Lin Tung-liang (林棟樑), deputy director of the commission’s banking bureau, told a media briefing.
Both banks will be barred from undertaking businesses under Article 16 of the Trust Act (信託業法), including trust businesses of cash, equities, properties and intellectual rights, he said.
Lin said that, as of last Friday, the Bankers’ Association had received 25,231 petitions from structured note investors, 19,191 of which had been settled.
AMC secures syndicated loan
AMC Holdings Ltd (聯致科技) yesterday secured a five-year syndicated loan of NT$750 million from a bank consortium led by Chinatrust Commercial Bank (中信銀) and the Industrial Bank of Taiwan (台灣工銀), Chinatrust said in a press statement.
The company’s subsidiary, moreover, secured another five-year loan of US$13 million from the same six domestic banks, the statement said.
The loans will be used to repay part of its old loans and fund its future operation, it said.
Meanwhile, the board of Taiwan Cooperative Bank (合作金庫銀行) yesterday finalized a proposal to raise NT$20 billion this year via the issuance of unsecured subordinated debentures, pending a regulatory approval, the bank said in an exchange filing yesterday.
The proceeds will be used to boost capital and fund mid to long-term operations, the filing said.
PRC TV makers buy AU panels
TCL Corp, Konka Group Co (康佳集團) and seven other Chinese TV makers yesterday signed agreements to buy US$5.3 billion in flat panels from AU Optronics Corp (友達光電), Chi Mei Optoelectronics Corp (奇美電子) and Chunghwa Picture Tubes Ltd (中華映管), the Taiwan External Trade Development Council said on Wednesday.
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