TAIEX climbs four points

The nation's key stock index rose for the first day in three, paced by Chinatrust Financial Holding Co (中信銀金控) after pretax profit at its banking unit jumped by more than two-thirds in the first seven months.

Hon Hai Precision Industry Co (鴻海精密) and Compeq Manufacturing Co (華通電子) fell after a US report showed manufacturing dropped more than expected in July, fueling concerns the economic recovery in Taiwan's second-largest export market is lagging.

"I can't see any revival in demand in the computer or communications sectors," said Brian Huang, who helps manage NT$3 billion (US$89 million) in stocks at Truswell Securities Investment Trust Co (富鼎投信). "I'm holding a lot of traditional stocks, such as plastics and steel, which are all showing a clear recovery."

The TAIEX rose 4.30, or 0.1 percent, to 4,920.89. The banks and insurers sub-index led gains. Eight shares rose for every seven that fell. Trading was valued at NT$51.4 billion, about a quarter less than the daily average in the past three months. For the week, the index added 1.4 percent.

Chinatrust, which owns the nation's largest credit card issuer, rose NT$0.90, or 3.1 percent, to NT$30. Compeq, Taiwan's largest printed-circuit-board maker, dropped NT$2.10, or 6.8 percent, to NT$28.70.

Nanya Technology Corp (南亞科技), Taiwan's second-largest maker of computer-memory chips by market value, rose NT$0.60, or 1.9 percent, to NT$32.20.

First Commercial Bank (第一銀行) rose NT$0.10, or 0.4 percent, to NT$23.40. The island's largest publicly traded lender by assets said it raised about NT$0.25 on the dollar in a bad debt auction this week, when Taiwan's largest publicly traded lender by assets sold overdue loans with a face value of NT$56.5 billion.

Silicon Integrated Systems Corp (矽統) gained NT$1.60, or 4.8 percent, to NT$34.90.

The chipset maker said sales in July rose almost three-quarters from a year earlier to NT$1.11 billion.