HTC’s boost fails to lift TAIEX
The TAIEX closed in negative territory yesterday as technical resistance ahead of the 7,200-point mark erased earlier gains, dealers said.
While smartphone vendor HTC Corp (宏達電) steamed ahead after a recommendation upgrade by Morgan Stanley, lingering concerns over the global economy kept many investors from pushing the broader market higher and dragged down the index at the end of the session, they said.
HTC shares gained 4.63 percent to close at NT$248.50.
The weighted index closed down 13.77 points, or 0.19 percent, at 7,130.07, after moving between 7,108.84 and 7,194.28, on turnover of NT$66.43 billion (US$2.28 billion).
At the end of the session, the cement sector had suffered the heaviest downward pressure among the eight major sectors of the market, finishing down 1.08 percent.
Workers on unpaid leave rising
An additional 1,488 workers in Taiwan have been put on unpaid leave over the past two weeks, the Council of Labor Affairs said yesterday.
That brings the total number of furloughed workers to 4,343, the highest level in the past six months, the council said. A total of 49 companies have been affected, it added.
The council said it would monitor the situation and advise local labor administrations on workers’ rights.
Since last year, the council has been issuing reports on unpaid leave on the first and 16th of each month.
NDF starts loan project
The management committee of the state-run National Development Fund (NDF) yesterday approved a special loans project to encourage Taiwanese companies based overseas to reinvest in Taiwan.
Taiwanese companies based overseas would receive an interest rate lower than 2.375 percent for loans used to reinvest in Taiwan, the fund said in a statement.
The project is planned to continue until the end of 2014, with the total loan quota standing at NT$10 billion, the statement said.
Both state-run and private banks could handle the loans.
The fund would further repay 1.5 percent of the lent amount as the banks’ processing fee.
FedEx expecting busy season
FedEx Corp expects shipping volumes for the holiday season between Thanksgiving and Christmas to show a 13 percent growth from last year on the back of the strong development of e-commerce.
The higher volume may help raise the company’s earnings guidance for next year, the company said in a statement.
FedEx forecast more than 280 million shipments to move through its worldwide shipping networks, compared with 247 million shipments processed last year.
The company further expects to have its busiest day in history on Dec. 10, when it moves a projected 19 million shipments through its global networks, a 10 percent year-on-year increase from the busiest day last year on Dec. 12.
Peak volumes are retail driven, with goods such as personal electronics, apparel, luxury, goods and items from large Internet retailers accounting for holiday shipping volumes, the statement said.
NT dollar in greenback retreat
The New Taiwan dollar lost ground against the US dollar yesterday, declining NT$0.13 to close at NT$29.272 on a combination of central bank intervention and foreign institutional selling in the stock market, dealers said.
As other regional currencies weakened during the session, the central bank seized the opportunity to buy into the greenback, which added downward pressure on the NT dollar, they said.
Turnover totaled about US$743 million during the trading session.
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