United World gains as Hon Hai slips in mixed stock market

Taiwan stocks were mixed as gains by United World Chinese Commercial Bank (世華銀行) offset a drop by Hon Hai Precision Industry Co (鴻海精密). The TWSE Index added 0.63 point to 4852.07 as almost seven stocks fell for every four that advanced.

United World Chinese Commercial Bank surged by its 6.8 percent daily limit to NT$25.20. Cathay Financial Holding Co (國泰金控) will buy Taiwan's 10th largest lender by assets for NT$29.50 per share, a 25 percent premium to the lender's closing price on Friday, the local Chinese-language media reported.

"It's good news for United World, but the financial stocks will have to wait until next year to perform better because they're writing off bad debt this year," said Margaret Lin, who manages NT$800 million ($24 million) in stocks at Truswell Securities Investment Trust (富鼎投信). "I'm buying a bit of everything because the market's so weak, we need to be balanced right." Hon Hai Precision shed NT$3.50, or 2.7 percent, to NT$126.

Taiwan's largest computer-parts maker reported sales in July fell 1 percent from the previous month to NT$21.4 billion, the first monthly drop since February. It's difficult to say whether the computer industry is recovering, the Economic Daily News reported, citing Hon Hai Chairman Terry Kuo (郭台銘).

The total value of trade was NT$56 billion, 17 percent below the three-month daily average.

Quanta Computer Inc (廣達電腦) fell NT$1.50, or 2 percent, to NT$75.Elitegroup Computer Systems Co (菁英電腦) fell NT$1.50, or 1.7 percent, to NT$84.50 while Winbond Electronics Corp (華邦電子) gained NT$0.10, or 0.5 percent, to NT$19.50.