Resistance limits TAIEX
The TAIEX closed little changed yesterday as technical resistance ahead of the 7,950 to 8,000 points range eroded early gains brought by follow-through buying from the previous trading session, dealers said.
The TAIEX fell 6.55 points to 7,884.40, after moving between 7,876.67 and 7,922.07, on turnover of NT$126.49 billion (US$3.97 billion).
The market opened 0.30 percent up and then hit the day’s high, with interest focusing on select old economy shares before profit-taking emerged to drag down the index as concerns over the global economy remained, dealers said.
A total of 1,620 stocks closed up and 2,169 down, with 321 remaining unchanged.
Chimei raises salaries
Chimei Innolux Corp (奇美電子), the nation’s largest maker of LCD panels, raised wages for its workers in Taiwan last month, spokesman Eddie Chen (陳彥松) said by telephone yesterday.
The Chinese-language Apple Daily reported the company raised wages by more than 10 percent, without citing sources. Chen declined to comment on the size of the wage increases.
The move came after the company said last week it had adjusted downward factory output in the third quarter on weak demand.
Crude oil purchases drop
Taiwan purchased less crude oil last month after a refiner shut plants because of accidents.
Shipments fell 49 percent from a year earlier to 19.7 million barrels, the Ministry of Finance said yesterday. The August oil bill declined 46 percent to US$1.45 billion, the ministry said in a statement.
Formosa Petrochemical Corp (台塑石化) shut its 540,000 barrel-a-day Mailiao (麥寮) refinery for safety reasons after an oil leak triggered a blaze at its No. 2 residue desulfurization unit on July 25.
Formosa halted its No. 1 ethylene plant, which has an annual capacity of 700,000 tonnes, on July 7 after a fire.
The refinery has three crude distillation units, which heat oil and separate it into different products.
CIDC hosts banking seminar
The Central Deposit Insurance Corp (CIDC, 中央存保) will sponsor a two-day seminar next week on risk management trends and challenges facing the banking industry in the post-global financial crisis era.
The institution responsible for managing the nation’s deposit insurance system said the forum aims to provide a platform for government officials, academics and banking executives to exchange views over exit strategy and response measures.
The blanket deposit guarantee, introduced in September 2008 to stabilize the banking sector, is due to end by the end of the year.
Vice Premier Sean Chen (陳沖), Minister of Finance Lee Sush-der (李述德), Financial Supervisory Commission Vice Chairwoman Lee Jih-chu (李紀珠), academics and bankers from Taiwan and abroad will attend the forum on Tuesday and Wednesday.
OTP signs credit pact
OTP Bank Nyrt, Hungary’s largest lender, signed a US$20 million refinancing credit agreement with the Export-Import Bank of the Republic of China (中國輸出入銀行) to provide cheaper loans for Taiwanese products imported to Hungary, state news agency MTI said yesterday, citing OTP.
OTP Bank will give import financing at a preferential interest rate from the credit line with a maximum maturity period of five years for the Hungarian imports
NT dollar slides
The New Taiwan dollar fell against the US dollar yesterday, dropping NT$0.068 to close at NT$32.016. Turnover totaled US$581 million.
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