G8 meeting boosts TAIEX
The TAIEX got a boost yesterday amid renewed optimism toward the debt situation in Europe, after the leaders of the G8 nations voiced support for Greece remaining in the eurozone, dealers said.
Buying in the local market focused on high-tech stocks, in particular companies in the Apple supply chain, as bargain hunters took advantage of their relatively low valuations after a recent slump, dealers added.
The TAIEX closed up 82.66 points, or 1.15 percent, at the day’s high of 7,274.89, off an early low of 7,164.90. Turnover during the session totaled NT$65.71 billion (US$2.23 billion).
At the end of the session, the construction sector scored the highest gains among the eight largest sectors of the market, finishing up 1.92 percent.
HTC shares rise on Sprint move
Shares of smartphone supplier HTC Corp (宏達電) rose 6.02 percent to NT$431.50 on the Taiwan Stock Exchange yesterday after US telecom operator Sprint announced the HTC EVO 4G LTE, one of the firm’s high-end models, will be available to customers from Thursday.
On its blog, Sprint said it expects “to begin shipping HTC EVO 4G LTE for arrival on or around Thursday, May 24 to customers who pre-ordered the device online from Sprint.”
On May 16, HTC said shipments of its HTC One X and EVO LTE devices had been delayed due to a customs review requested by the US International Trade Commission over a patent dispute with Apple Inc.
Stabilize economy: chamber
The government should take action to stabilize the economy rather than pushing through reform policies, in light of a decline in exports, General Chamber of Commerce chairman Lawrence Chang (張平沼) said yesterday.
Given that exports in the first four months of this year fell 4.7 percent from the same period of last year to US$96.37 billion, it is becoming more urgent for the government to deal with the slowing global economy, he said.
“The government should be very cautious about taking any steps at present, which means it should stabilize Taiwan’s economy first and postpone other reforms,” Chang said on the sidelines of a business seminar in Taipei.
“I think the most important work for the government now is to maintain the stability of the economy to avoid a further drop in the second quarter,” he said.
Kaohsiung moving on zone
The Greater Kaohsiung municipal government has set up a steering committee with industrial parks and port operators to speed up the probable establishment of a free economic zone in the city, Greater Kaohsiung Deputy Mayor Lee Yung-te (李永得) said on Monday.
Lee said the committee would draft a proposal for the economic zone by the end of this year and submit it to the central government for funding and assistance.
Lee said the committee will refer to the examples of Incheon in South Korea, Singapore, Hong Kong and the Netherlands and will suggest that the central government loosen restrictions for the smooth establishment of the zone.
NT dollar gains ground
The New Taiwan dollar gained ground against the US dollar yesterday, adding NT$0.032 to close at NT$29.546 as the local currency gained strength amid rising optimism toward the European debt situation, dealers said.
The strength of other currencies in the region against the US dollar also propelled traders to dump the greenback and raise their Taiwan dollar holdings, they said.
Turnover totaled US$623 million during the trading session.
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