Share prices lost ground yesterday, with the TAIEX falling 21.4 points, or 0.26 percent, to close at 7,930.77.
The bourse opened at 8,006.79 and fluctuated between 7,889.93 and 8,010.98. Market turnover totaled NT$95.23 billion (US$3.03 billion). Losers outnumbered gainers 1,940 to 1,123, with 279 remaining unchanged.
Foreign investors and Chinese qualified domestic institutional investors were net sellers of NT$2.11 billion in shares.
Stocks become ‘full-delivery’
Chunghwa Picture Tubes Ltd (中華映管), the nation’s third-biggest maker of flat panels, and Mustek Systems Inc (鴻友科技), which produces scanners, digital cameras and video cameras, will become “full-delivery” stocks from today, the Taiwan Stock Exchange said in a statement on its Web site on Monday evening. This means the shares cannot be traded on margin or be sold short.
Credit card bad-loan ratio down
The nation’s 37 credit card issuers averaged a bad-loan ratio of 0.84 percent by the end of March, down 0.04 percentage points month-on-month, the Financial Supervisory Commission’s latest statistics showed yesterday.
In addition, 19 domestic cash card issuers averaged a bad-loan ratio of 2.192 percent in March, down 0.079 percentage points month-on-month, the data showed.
Meanwhile, Chinese holders of debit cards issued by China UnionPay Co (中國銀聯) will soon be allowed to withdraw cash, make cash advances or check their account balance at local automatic teller machines, the commission’s banking bureau said in a press statement.
Chinese cardholders will be able to withdraw up to NT$20,000 at a time, although withdrawals will be limited to 10,000 yuan per day per card, the statement said.
Once the commission grants regulatory approval, 18 domestic banks will be allowed to launch such services in the near future, the commission said.
Carrefour in India talks
Carrefour SA, Europe’s biggest retailer, is in talks with a potential partner in India as it taps growth in emerging markets, chief executive officer Lars Olofsson said.
Carrefour will reveal the partner’s identity in a few months, the exectutive said yesterday at the Paris-based company’s annual meeting.
Carrefour will open more hypermarkets and discount stores in China and Brazil this year. The company plans to open 22 hypermarkets and 140 hard discount stores in China this year, he said.
Bank IPO could set record
Agricultural Bank of China (中國農業銀行) yesterday filed its application with the Hong Kong stock exchange ahead of what could be the world’s largest initial public offering.
The application officially initiated the bank’s plan to launch a dual listing in Hong Kong and Shanghai to raise as much as US$30 billion, people familiar with the situation told Dow Jones Newswires.
If approved, the bank will be the last of China’s big four state-run lenders to be listed.
However, it has not yet filed in Shanghai, a source said.
Agricultural Bank’s IPO may exceed the US$22 billion stock offering by Industrial & Commercial Bank of China (ICBC, 中國工商銀行) in 2006, data provider Dealogic said.
NT dollar gains ground
The New Taiwan dollar gained ground against the US dollar on the Taipei Foreign Exchange yesterday, rising NT$0.059 to close at NT$31.46.
A total of US$898 million changed hands during the trading session.
STAFF WRITER, WITH AGENCIES
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