Stocks declined yesterday, led by Taiwan Semiconductor Manufac-turing Co (TSMC, 台積電), after Royal Philips Electronics NV sold a US$1.08 billion stake in the company in the US, sending the shares down 5.7 percent in late trade in the US.
The TAIEX shed 36.95, or 0.6 percent, to 6,022.08. The Taiwan Futures Index dropped 0.2 percent to 6,040. About the same number of stocks gained as declined.
About 4 billion shares changed hands, 9 percent below the average daily trading in the past three months. Shares worth NT$88.7 billion traded, 9 percent below the three-month daily average.
Royal Philips, Europe's largest consumer-electronics maker, sold 100 million American depositary shares for US$10.77 each, said Edward Naylor, a Hong Kong-based spokesman at Goldman Sachs Group Inc, which helped arrange the sale.
The government is also planning to sell a 3 percent stake in TSMC, the nation's biggest company by market value, to help finance spen-ding.
TSMC fell NT$2, or 2.9 percent, to NT$66 in Taipei.
Cathay Financial Holding Co (國泰金控), the nation's biggest financial services provider, fell NT$0.50, or 1 percent, to NT$51. Cathay Financial plans to take a NT$12 billion charge to write off bad loans, a Chinese-language newspaper reported, with-out citing anyone.
China Airlines Co (華航) was unchanged at NT$15.80 after it said sales last month rose 3.3 percent to NT$7.3 billion from a year earlier. Sales increased from NT$6.7 billion in the previous month.
Yulon Motor Co (裕隆汽車), which assembles and sells automobiles designed by Nissan Motor Co., gained NT$2.10, or 4.7 percent, to NT$46.40 after it said sales last month rose 38 percent from a year ago to NT$4 billion. Sales were NT$3.9 billion in September.
Taiwan Transport and Storage Corp (TTS, 台灣通運倉儲) yesterday unveiled its first electric tractor unit — manufactured by Volvo Trucks — in a ceremony in Taipei, and said the unit would soon be used to transport cement produced by Taiwan Cement Corp (TCC, 台灣水泥). Both TTS and TCC belong to TCC International Holdings Ltd (台泥國際集團). With the electric tractor unit, the Taipei-based cement firm would become the first in Taiwan to use electric vehicles to transport construction materials. TTS chairman Koo Kung-yi (辜公怡), Volvo Trucks vice president of sales and marketing Johan Selven, TCC president Roman Cheng (程耀輝) and Taikoo Motors Group
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