TAIEX inches up 0.27%
The TAIEX closed up 0.27 percent yesterday as profit taking emerged in late trading to erode early gains amid renewed fears that China will step up measures to tighten the money supply to combat inflation, dealers said.
The TAIEX rose 22.67 points to 8,306.12, after moving between 8,226.71 and 8,372.16, on turnover of NT$97.88 billion (US$3.23 billion).
The market opened up 0.74 percent after overnight gains on Wall Street and moved to the day’s high before selling set in as investors witnessed losses suffered by markets in Shanghai and Hong Kong on fears of further interest rate hikes by China’s central bank, the dealers said.
Lingering concerns over domestic political uncertainty ahead of the Nov. 27 municipality elections have prompted many investors to retreat from the trading floor, they said.
A total of 2,144 stocks closed up and 1,649 were down with 441 remaining unchanged.
BOT cuts luxury home loans
Bank of Taiwan (BOT, 臺灣銀行), a unit of the nation’s biggest financial services company, cut the amount of loans for buyers of luxury homes and property investors as the state-owned lender seeks to reduce credit risk.
The Taipei-based lender reduced the loan-to-value ratio for buyers of a second property in the metropolitan Taipei area to 65 percent from 70 percent, Bank of Taiwan vice president Bruce Yang (楊豊彥) said yesterday. The ratio also applies to those seeking loans to buy properties valued above NT$100 million, he said.
Asia Cement, Shanshui sign MOU
Taiwan-listed Asia Cement Corp (亞泥) intends to purchase less than 10 percent of China Shanshui Cement Group Ltd (山水水泥) as part of planned joint ventures in Liaoning and Inner Mongolia, according to a statement to Hong Kong’s stock exchange yesterday evening.
Asia Cement (China) Holdings Corp (亞泥中國) told the exchange that it, Asia Cement Corp and Shanshui have signed a non-binding memorandum of understanding (MOU).
Asia Cement (China) will take stakes of not more than 30 percent in joint venture companies under the arrangement, its statement said. The ventures will be in the cement and construction raw-material industries, the statement said.
TLC invests in Jining Sunrich
TLC Capital Co (弘鼎創投), a unit of United Microelectronics Corp (UMC, 聯電), plans to invest an additional US$11.3 million in China’s Jining Sunrich Solar Corp (濟寧華瀚光伏能源), the Hsinchu-based chipmaker said in a statement to the Taiwan Stock Exchange on Thursday.
UMC and units TLC Capital and Fortune Venture Capital Corp (宏誠創投) are investing a further NT$3.4 billion in NexPower Technology Corp (聯相光電), the chipmaker said in separate statements on Thursday.
NT dollar gains on GDP growth
The New Taiwan dollar completed a weekly gain after the economy expanded more than forecast in the third quarter.
The local currency, which was trading 1.3 percent higher before the end of the trading session, pared gains as the central bank bought the US dollar, according to two traders familiar with the matter who declined to be identified.
The NT dollar gained 0.2 percent yesterday and 0.3 percent this week to NT$30.673 against its US counterpart, according to Taipei Forex Inc. The currency has appreciated 5.5 percent this year as exchange data show overseas funds bought US$6.3 billion more Taiwanese stocks than they sold during the period.
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