TAIEX closes up
The TAIEX closed up 0.62 percent yesterday as rotational buying boosted small and medium-cap stocks and select financial firms to reverse early losses on Wall Street’s weakness at the end of last week, dealers said.
The weighted index rose 49.64 points to 7,941.22 after moving between 7,850.56 and 7,941.22 on turnover of NT$119.43 billion (US$3.74 billion).
The market opened down 0.09 percent and moved to a low in early trade on falling US markets as investors became more cautious about the earnings outlook of the electronics sector for the second half of this year, dealers said.
However, select financial stocks on low valuations attracted bargain hunting and turned stronger in late trade, helping the broader market get out of the earlier slump, they said.
A total of 1,825 stocks closed up and 1,783 down with 307 stocks remaining unchanged.
BlackRock to acquire Primasia
BlackRock Inc plans to acquire Taiwan’s Primasia Investment Trust Co, the company said in an e-mailed statement yesterday. The company aims to finish the purchase in the second half of this year, the statement said.
Stephanie Chang (張郁棻), a spokeswoman for BlackRock in Taipei, declined to give financial details of the deal.
EVA Airways posts profit
EVA Airways Corp (長榮航空), Taiwan’s second-largest carrier, had net income of NT$5.22 billion in the first half of the year, or NT$1.76 a share, compared with a loss of NT$1.68 billion, or NT$0.74, a year earlier, the Taoyuan-based company said in a stock exchange filing yesterday.
UMC sells Mega shares
United Microelectronics Corp (UMC, 聯電), Taiwan’s second-largest maker of custom chips, sold NT$317.8 million of Mega Financial Holding Co (兆豐金) shares between Aug. 4 and yesterday at an average of NT$19.78 apiece, the Hsinchu-based company said in an exchange filing yesterday.
UMC booked NT$133.8 million profit from the share sale, the filing said.
Taipower buying green energy
The state-owned Taiwan Power Co (Taipower, 台電) announced that starting yesterday, companies could sell it renewable energy that they generated.
The private sector has been encouraged to deploy new equipment to produce renewable energy, such as wind power or solar power, as the nation seeks to reduce dependence on coal and gas to cut carbon dioxide emission.
These firms can now sell the energy back to Taipower on rates that were fixed by the Ministry of Economic Affairs in July last year. Businesses can approach Taipower’s nationwide branches with necessary documents to apply for the payment, or search its Web site for more details, it said.
Central bank issues more CODs
The central bank issued NT$147.2 billion in certificates of deposit (COD) yesterday, more than the NT$132.15 billion that matured, the bank said in a statement on its Web site.
The bank sold 30-day certificates of deposit at an interest rate of 0.63 percent, 91-day at 0.67 percent, and 182-day at 0.77 percent, its Web site said.
NT dollar loses ground
The US dollar rose against the New Taiwan dollar yesterday, gaining NT$0.05 to close at the day’s high of NT$32.010.
Turnover totaled US$530 million during the trading session.
The greenback opened at NT$31.960 and moved to a low of NT$31.917 before rebounding.
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