Stocks declined, paced by China Airlines Co (華航), on concern the nation may delay negotiations to open direct transport links with China.
President Chen Shui-bian (
He said any opening must be approved by the government.
"Direct links aren't going to happen so fast," said Johnson Chang, who manages NT$5 billion (US$144 million) in stocks at Waterland Asset Management Co (國票投信). "Chen's speech provides an excuse to sell."
The TAIEX dropped 17.58, or 0.4 percent, to close at 4,566.10. Almost seven stocks fell for every four that rose. The total value of trade was NT$73.52 billion.
China Airlines fell NT$0.40, or 2.6 percent, to NT$14.90. The stock has risen 42 percent since Oct. 15, compared with an 11 percent advance in the main index.
Taiwan Semiconductor Manu-facturing Co (台積電) rose NT$0.70, or 1.5 percent, to NT$47.70. The US-traded shares of the world's largest supplier of made-to-order chips surged 9.4 percent to US$8.85 yesterday after a report by the Semiconductor Industry Association showed industry sales jumped 21 percent in the third quarter.
Quanta Computer Inc (廣達電腦) rose NT$2, or 2.7 percent, to NT$75. The notebook-computer maker expects that sales reached NT$13 billion last month, 25 percent higher than a year earlier.
CTB Financial Holding Co (兆豐金控) fell NT$0.40, or 2.4 percent, to NT$16.40. The owner of Taiwan's 12th-largest lender by assets plans to bid for the 32 percent stake of International Commercial Bank of China (中國商銀) being auctioned by the government tomorrow. CTB plans to pay for the stake using loans and bonds.
Chunghwa Picture Tubes Ltd (中華映管) rose NT$0.15, or 1.1 percent, to NT$14. The maker of flat-panel displays plans to start shipping half its flat panels to Hon Hai Precision Industry Co (鴻海精密), which will assemble them at its plants in China to make flat-panel televisions, a Chinese-language newspaper reported.
Fwu Sow Grain Products Co (福壽實業) rose NT$0.10, or 2.3 percent, to NT$4.43. The maker of soybean oil, pet food and poultry feed boosted its pre-tax profit forecast almost threefold to NT$50 million after prices rose.
Wintek Corp (勝華科技) rose NT$0.40, or 1.3 percent, to NT$31.80. The company said October sales more than doubled from a year earlier to NT$1 billion.
Yulon Motor Co (裕隆汽車) rose NT$0.80, or 2.3 percent, to NT$36.10. The automobile company said pre-tax profit in October more than doubled from a year earlier to NT$443 million.
BUSINESS UPDATE: The iPhone assembler said operations outlook is expected to show quarter-on-quarter and year-on-year growth for the second quarter Hon Hai Precision Industry Co (鴻海精密) yesterday reported strong growth in sales last month, potentially raising expectations for iPhone sales while artificial intelligence (AI)-related business booms. The company, which assembles the majority of Apple Inc’s smartphones, reported a 19.03 percent rise in monthly sales to NT$510.9 billion (US$15.78 billion), from NT$429.22 billion in the same period last year. On a monthly basis, sales rose 14.16 percent, it said. The company in a statement said that last month’s revenue was a record-breaking April performance. Hon Hai, known also as Foxconn Technology Group (富士康科技集團), assembles most iPhones, but the company is diversifying its business to
Apple Inc has been developing a homegrown chip to run artificial intelligence (AI) tools in data centers, although it is unclear if the semiconductor would ever be deployed, the Wall Street Journal reported on Monday. The effort would build on Apple’s previous efforts to make in-house chips, which run in its iPhones, Macs and other devices, according to the Journal, which cited unidentified people familiar with the matter. The server project is code-named ACDC (Apple Chips in Data Center) within the company, aiming to utilize Apple’s expertise in chip design for the company’s server infrastructure, the newspaper said. While this initiative has been
GlobalWafers Co (環球晶圓), the world’s No. 3 silicon wafer supplier, yesterday said that revenue would rise moderately in the second half of this year, driven primarily by robust demand for advanced wafers used in high-bandwidth memory (HBM) chips, a key component of artificial intelligence (AI) technology. “The first quarter is the lowest point of this cycle. The second half will be better than the first for the whole semiconductor industry and for GlobalWafers,” chairwoman Doris Hsu (徐秀蘭) said during an online investors’ conference. “HBM would definitely be the key growth driver in the second half,” Hsu said. “That is our big hope
The consumer price index (CPI) last month eased to 1.95 percent, below the central bank’s 2 percent target, as food and entertainment cost increases decelerated, helped by stable egg prices, the Directorate-General of Budget, Accounting and Statistics (DGBAS) said yesterday. The slowdown bucked predictions by policymakers and academics that inflationary pressures would build up following double-digit electricity rate hikes on April 1. “The latest CPI data came after the cost of eating out and rent grew moderately amid mixed international raw material prices,” DGBAS official Tsao Chih-hung (曹志弘) told a news conference in Taipei. The central bank in March raised interest rates by