AU Optronics, Chi Mei Optoelectronics surge

Stocks gained yesterday as AU Optronics Corp (友達光電) and Chi Mei Optoelectronics Corp (奇美電子) surged by their daily limits on optimism prices of flat-panel displays may rise because of a shortage of parts to make the screens.

The TAIEX barely rose, adding 3.67 points to 5,750.81. Eight stocks fell for every Seven that gained. The futures contract for September delivery rose 0.03 percent to 5,759.

About 3.5 billion shares changed hands, or 25 percent below the average volume in the past three months. Shares worth NT$81.1 billion (US$2.4 billion) were traded.

AU Optronics, the world's No. 3 maker of flat-panel displays for

personal computers, rose NT$3.10, or 6.9 percent, to NT$48.20. Chi Mei, the country's second largest LCD display maker, rose NT$3.10, or 6.9 percent, to NT$47.80.

Quanta Display Inc (廣輝電子) rose NT$1.20, or 6.5 percent, to NT$19.70.

Teco Electric & Machinery Co (東元電機), which markets flat-panel televisions under its own brand, expects to sell 720,000 liquid-display-panel televisions next year after selling 100,000 units this year, a Chinese-language newspaper reported, citing company president Lin Sheng-chuan (林勝泉).

"The LCD industry is booming because more and more people are buying LCD TVs to replace bulky cathode ray tube TVs," Phil Chen, who manages the US$46 million High-Tech Fund at Grand Cathay Securities Investment Trust Co (大華投信), said this week.

Formosa Plastics Corp (台塑) fell NT$0.60, or 1.2 percent, to NT$48.50 after a Chinese-language newspaper reported Chinese Petroleum Corp (中油) will raise the price of acrylonitrile, which is used in feedstock, starting next year.

The new price will increase costs of feedstock for Chinese Petroleum clients such as Formosa Plastics by about 15 percent from the current level, the report said, citing the company's chief executive officer.

Evergreen Marine Corp (長榮海運) rose NT$0.60, or 2.5 percent, to NT$24.90 on a Korea Economic Daily report, citing an unidentified official at Evergreen's South Korean branch, that it's considering moving its port of call to Ningbo, China, from Busan Port after the South Korean port was hit by its strongest-ever typhoon.

Mega Financial Holdings Co (兆豐金控) rose NT$0.30, or 1.7 percent, to NT$17.50.

Mega Financial is offering US$600 million of bonds convertible into its shares, a sale document sent to investors shows, to pay loans and fund investments. The two-year bonds will be convertible into the company's shares at NT$21.08 a share, the document shows. That's a 23 percent premium to Wednesday's close of NT$17.2.