TAIEX declines again, UMC leads

TAIEX had its longest losing streak in three months. United Microelectronics Corp (UMC, 聯電) fell after Xilinx Inc said the company would no longer be its sole chip supplier and named Toshiba Corp as a manufacturing partner.

The California-based Xilinx, the world's biggest maker of programmable chips, said Toshiba will make semiconductors used in consumer electronics and automobiles.

The benchmark fell for the sixth day, shedding 10.25, or 0.2 percent, to 5,820.82. That is the longest losing run since the seven days to July 20. The index fell as much as 0.8 percent after the country was struck by a magnitude 7 earthquake, its strongest since the temblor that killed 2,500 people in 1999.

UMC, the world's second-largest supplier of made-to-order chips, fell 1 percent to NT$20.

China Steel Corp (中鋼), Taiwan's largest steelmaker, gained 1.2 percent to NT$35.20 after it said profit next year will be higher than in 2004 because of increases in product prices. China Steel in June forecast 2004 net income of NT$46.4 billion.

Fubon Financial Holding Co (富邦金控), the second-biggest financial company by market value, fell 1.3 percent to NT$30.60 after it said its TaipeiBank (台北銀行) unit will retire 1 billion shares to cut its capitalization to NT$28.1 billion from NT$38.1 billion. The move is expected to improve return on equity and earnings per share. The reduction will take effect after Taipei Bank merges with Fubon Commercial Bank on Jan. 1, it said.