TAIEX down 0.39% yesterday
The TAIEX retreated in a mild correction yesterday as investors took cues from a lackluster trading day on Wall Street on Thursday to lock in gains posted in recent sessions, dealers said.
Certain large-cap stocks in the electronics sector came under pressure amid uncertainty over near-term market prospects in the first quarter, a traditionally slow season for global high-tech businesses, they said.
The weighted index closed down 30.85 points, or 0.39 percent, at 7,805.99, on turnover of NT$99.29 billion (US$3.42 billion).
Fifty firms list on main bourse
About 50 companies are expected to go public on Taiwan’s main board this year, Taiwan Stock Exchange Corp (TWSE, 台灣證交所) chairman Schive Chi (薛琦) said yesterday.
Of the 50 new companies expected to seek listing, up to 26 will be local enterprises, Schive said.
The number of overseas-based companies seeking listing could be the highest since 2010, when such companies were first allowed to go public on Taiwan’s main board, he said.
So far, sixteen non-Taiwanese-owned companies are mulling listing, of which two are from the US and Japan, five are from Hong Kong and Macau, and seven are from Southeast Asia, he said
Passenger volume quintuples
The number of cross-strait passengers using the Port of Taichung rose by five times last year, thanks mainly to increased ferry services to and from China, according to statistics released yesterday by the port authorities.
The port received 120,000 cross-strait passengers last year, up from 20,000 in 2011, the statistics show.
This was attributed to the addition of four ferries per week between Taichung and China’s Fujian Province that year, port officials said.
Foxconn welcomes policies
Foxconn Technology Group (富士康科技集團) said yesterday that it was happy to see new regulations imposed by the Indonesian government to tighten restrictions on imports of mobile phones, saying that it welcomes policies favorable to investment there.
Foxconn, owned by Hon Hai Precision Industry Co (鴻海精密), said its plans to invest in Indonesia remain unchanged and were still being assessed.
A Hon Hai executive said that if it decided to invest in Indonesia, it would consider in the first stage setting up an assembly plant to produce smartphones, but added: “There is no timetable at present.”
Under the new regulations that went into effect on Tuesday, imports of mobile phones can only be carried out by registered importers with special licenses from the Trade Ministry. Importers must also obtain permits from overseas brands and they cannot sell products directly to retailers, but must team up with distributors.
GlycoNex sales down 20.53%
GlycoNex Inc (台灣醣聯生技), a local cancer-medicine developer, yesterday reported its sales totaled NT$63.23 billion for the whole of last year, down 20.53 percent from the previous year. The full-year figure came out after the company released last month’s sales of NT$1.05 billion, equivalent to the amount a month ago and down 74.68 percent from a year ago.
GlycoNex’s core business is developing monoclonal antibody cancer drugs in their early stages and licensing them to pharmaceutical companies.
NT falls against greenback
The New Taiwan dollar fell against the US dollar yesterday, declining NT$0.034 to close at the day’s high of NT$29.125.
Turnover totaled about US$817 million.
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