TAIEX closes up 0.49%
The TAIEX closed up 0.49 percent yesterday as interest was triggered by Wall Street’s gains overnight.
However, the upside was compromised by technical resistance after the index briefly breached the 9,000 point mark, dealers said.
The TAIEX rose 43.60 points to 8,991.39, off a high of 9,032.30, on turnover of NT$113.41 billion (US$3.9 billion).
A total of 2,202 stocks closed up, 2,021 finished lower, and 473 remained unchanged.
Import tariffs to be cut
Taiwan will cut import tariffs on wheat, wheat flour, milked powder and corn starch for six months.
The move is intended to help stabilize consumer prices after prices picked up sharply because of harsh climate conditions, Minister of Finance Lee Sush-der (李述德) said yesterday.
The ministry will halve tariffs on wheat, wheat flour and corn starch by 50 percent for six months to help absorb imported inflationary pressure, Lee told a media briefing.
The ministry will also reduce tariffs on milk powders and skim milk powers by 25 percent for the six months, Lee said, adding the cuts will take effect once the Cabinet gives approval.
The central government also plans to allow the local government to levy a tax on idle land from next week to stop land hoarding, Lee added.
King’s Town buys Kaohsiung land
King’s Town Construction Co (京城建設) bought 1,501.8 ping of land (1 ping=3.3m2) for NT$1.59 billion in Kaohsiung, the company said in a statement to the Taiwan Stock Exchange yesterday.
On Monday, the company said that its board had agreed to pay up to NT$1.65 billion for the land.
Taipower seeks coal
Taiwan Power Co (Taipower, 台電) said it was seeking coal -cargoes in the spot market after floods in Queensland, Australia, disrupted contracted supplies.
Taipower expects its supplies from Queensland, which account for a total of 15 percent of its total coal needs, to return to normal in March, Taipower chief engineer Tu Yueh-yuan (杜悅元) said in an interview in Taipei yesterday.
Taipower expects to buy 27 million tonnes of the fuel this year, she said.
Hotai plans Chinese firm
Hotai Motor Co (和泰汽車), a Taiwan-based distributor for Japanese car maker Toyota, said yesterday that one of its units would start a car accessory business in China to tap the huge auto market there.
Hotai said its car accessory vendor unit, Carmax Co (車美仕), has set up a company in China, with two branches scheduled to begin operations in March in Shanghai and Guangzhou.
Hotai said car accessories provided by Carmax, such as auto navigation systems, global positioning systems and radar systems, are certified by Toyota.
Carmax, set up in July 2001, has ranked as the largest car accessory vendor in Taiwan for five years, Hotai said.
Last year, Carmax posted more than NT$2.5 billion in sales, up 30 percent from 2009, when the company’s sales also rose about 30 percent from 2008, according to Hotai.
NT dollar rises
The New Taiwan dollar rose against the US dollar yesterday, gaining NT$0.03 to close at NT$29.290 after intervention by the central bank to prevent a rapid rise of the currency.
Turnover totaled US$696 million during the trading session.
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