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■ Stocks flat as turnover drops
Shares ended flat yesterday, with turnover dropping sharply as retail investors retreated to the sidelines after the index's recent gains. The TAIEX rose 3.33 points, or 0.05 percent, to 6,296.89. The index had risen 14 percent since the middle of April. Turnover totaled only NT$65.24 billion (US$2.05 billion). If turnover continues to shrink, profit-taking pressure may build up, said Andrew Teng (鄧安瀾), a Taiwan International Securities (金鼎證券) manager. Electronics shares rose 0.1 percent. Chip foundry United Microelectronics Corp (聯電) gained 2.7 percent to NT$24.50, while its bigger rival Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (台積電) rose 0.2 percent to NT$56.90. Traders said interest in the two chip giants remains strong as sector fundamentals are improving. Thin-film-transistor, liquid-crystal-display makers ended mixed. The panel stocks opened higher after a Chinese-language newspaper reported the supply of panels used in TVs was tight, and that there would be a broad-based rise in panel prices next month. AU Optronics Corp (友達光電) rose 1.6 percent to NT$55.70, and rival Chi Mei Optoelectronics Corp (奇美電子) slid 0.2 percent to NT$50.80. Quanta Display Inc (廣輝電子) gained 1.4 percent to close at NT$17.60.

■ Fuhwa Bank takes third co-op
Fuhwa Bank (復華銀行) yesterday announced it would formally take over the Seventh Cooperative of Tainan City (台南市七信), boosting the bank's branch numbers to a total of 58 after acquiring the cooperative's branches, according to a Central News Agency report. Fuhwa Bank is the banking arm of Fuhwa Financial Holdings Co (復華金控), the 12th-largest of the nation's 14 financial holding companies. Eyeing the potential development of the Greater Tainan area, which is expected to be bolstered by the Southern Taiwan Science Park and the to-be-completed high speed railway, Fuhwa said acquisition of the cooperatives was expected to strengthen the bank's foothold in the south, the report said. Additionally, Fuhwa is planning to move six branches acquired from Tainan to Taipei, Hsinchu, Taichung and Kaohsiung in a bid to enhance its competitiveness, the report said. The Seventh Cooperative of Tainan City is the third cooperative Fuhwa has acquired after the Touliu Cooperative in Yunlin County (斗六信合社) in 2003 and the Taitung Cooperative (台東信合社) last year.

■ China investment falls
The nation's corporate investment in China fell 51 percent to US$495 million last month from a year earlier, the Investment Commission under the Ministry of Economic Affairs said. In the first five months of this year, approved corporate investment in China fell to US$1.96 billion from US$2.76 billion in the same period a year earlier, the commission said on its Web site. Foreign direct investment in China fell 0.8 percent in the first five months of the year to US$22.4 billion, the first drop in cumulative investment since September 2000, as an expansion boom fueled by WTO entry cooled, according to figures released by China's Ministry of Commerce on June 11. Taiwan's foreign investment last month fell 28 percent from a year earlier to US$238 million, according to the commission. For the first five months, it dropped to US$974 million from US$1.37 billion a year earlier, the figures showed.

■ NT dollar gains
The New Taiwan dollar traded higher against its US counterpart yesterday, gaining NT$0.004 to close at NT$31.319 on the Taipei foreign exchange market. Turnover was US$823 million.

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