Shares close lower
Shares ended lower yesterday after falls on Wall Street overnight and on profit-taking in the technology sector, analysts said.
The TAIEX closed 82.66 points, or 1.4 percent, lower at 6,060.46.
Dealings were valued at NT$58.34 billion (US$1.83 billion). Decliners well outnumbered advancers 639 to 116, while 122 issues ended the day unchanged.
Dealers said foreign investors, who have large holdings in the tech sector, led the sell-off, followed by domestic institutional investors in the afternoon.
One of the biggest tech decliners yesterday was Hon Hai Precision Industry Co (鴻海精密), whose stocks ended 5.2 percent lower at NT$138.
Shares in Taiwan's airlines went against the trend to rise on renewed hopes of direct flights between selected cities in China and Taiwan during the Lunar New Year holiday.
Eva Airways Corp (長榮) rose 1.3 percent to NT$15.9, while China Airlines (華航) closed flat at NT$18.4.
Hon Hai declines to detail IPO
Hon Hai Precision Industry Co (鴻海精密), Taiwan's largest electronics maker by sales, said details of the initial sale of shares in its mobile-phone unit, Foxconnwilson International Holdings (富士康), will be decided after the marketing effort is finished.
The company still needs to complete a marketing campaign to sell the shares, Hon Hai spokesman Edmund Ding (丁祈安) said in a telephone interview, responding to a Hong Kong Standard report that the initial offering would raise as much as HK$5 billion (US$642.8 million). No dollar amount has been set for the sale, Ding said.
The Lunar New Year holiday, which starts in the second week of next month, may impede plans for the sale, Ding said. He declined to comment on marketing plans for the handset unit.
The Hon Hai unit's shares may be sold in Hong Kong by the end of the month, the newspaper said. Foxconn plans to spend at least 60 percent of the proceeds of the sale to build five new plants, including one in Mexico and one in Hungary, the Standard said.
Tatung laptops in Wal-Mart
Tatung Co (大同) is selling laptop computers under its brand name for the first time in US outlets run by Wal-Mart Stores Inc, according to the world's largest discount retailer's Web site.
The Web site shows three Tatung laptop models for prices ranging from US$1,271 to US$998.
Tatung is trying to build its brand name in the US after gaining more recognition in the market from sales of its flat-panel televisions.
Tatung, Taiwan's fourth-largest electronics maker, on Dec. 23 cut its 2004 profit forecast after subsidiary Chunghwa Picture Tubes Ltd (中華映管) pared its outlook for net income, citing a decline in industry prices.
NT dollar closes slightly up
The New Taiwan dollar pared losses on speculation some exporters took advantage of a slide in the currency to convert their overseas earnings.
The local currency closed NT$0.001 higher to end at NT$31.846 against the US dollar in Taipei, after dropping as much as 0.2 percent to NT$31.912.
Turnover was US$604 million, down from US$838 million the previous day.
"It appears there were quite a lot of exporter purchases of NT dollars above NT$31.85 today," said Gary Huang, a currency trader in Taipei at Union Bank of Taiwan (聯邦銀行).
"Exporters believe that's an acceptable level" to buy the local currency, he said.
The NT dollar may trade between NT$31.70 and NT$32 this month, Huang said.
The US dollar was trading at NT$29.7 at 10am today on the Taipei Foreign Exchange, as the New Taiwan dollar gained NT$1.364 from the previous close last week. The NT dollar continued to rise today, after surging 3.07 percent on Friday. After opening at NT$30.91, the NT dollar gained more than NT$1 in just 15 minutes, briefly passing the NT$30 mark. Before the US Department of the Treasury's semi-annual currency report came out, expectations that the NT dollar would keep rising were already building. The NT dollar on Friday closed at NT$31.064, up by NT$0.953 — a 3.07 percent single-day gain. Today,
‘SHORT TERM’: The local currency would likely remain strong in the near term, driven by anticipated US trade pressure, capital inflows and expectations of a US Fed rate cut The US dollar is expected to fall below NT$30 in the near term, as traders anticipate increased pressure from Washington for Taiwan to allow the New Taiwan dollar to appreciate, Cathay United Bank (國泰世華銀行) chief economist Lin Chi-chao (林啟超) said. Following a sharp drop in the greenback against the NT dollar on Friday, Lin told the Central News Agency that the local currency is likely to remain strong in the short term, driven in part by market psychology surrounding anticipated US policy pressure. On Friday, the US dollar fell NT$0.953, or 3.07 percent, closing at NT$31.064 — its lowest level since Jan.
The New Taiwan dollar and Taiwanese stocks surged on signs that trade tensions between the world’s top two economies might start easing and as US tech earnings boosted the outlook of the nation’s semiconductor exports. The NT dollar strengthened as much as 3.8 percent versus the US dollar to 30.815, the biggest intraday gain since January 2011, closing at NT$31.064. The benchmark TAIEX jumped 2.73 percent to outperform the region’s equity gauges. Outlook for global trade improved after China said it is assessing possible trade talks with the US, providing a boost for the nation’s currency and shares. As the NT dollar
The Financial Supervisory Commission (FSC) yesterday met with some of the nation’s largest insurance companies as a skyrocketing New Taiwan dollar piles pressure on their hundreds of billions of dollars in US bond investments. The commission has asked some life insurance firms, among the biggest Asian holders of US debt, to discuss how the rapidly strengthening NT dollar has impacted their operations, people familiar with the matter said. The meeting took place as the NT dollar jumped as much as 5 percent yesterday, its biggest intraday gain in more than three decades. The local currency surged as exporters rushed to
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