■ Sluggish TAIEX gains slightly
Shares rose slightly yesterday on buying of select high-tech shares, although decliners heavily outnumbered gainers as overall market sentiment remained sluggish. The TAIEX rose 10.29 points, or 0.16 percent, to 6,241.94. Since hitting a 14-month intraday high of 6,401 on June 23, the local market has lost steam as many retail investors took to the sidelines. "Yesterday's buyers were today's losers; today's index was supported only by government funds buying tech shares," Andrew Teng (鄧安瀾), a sales manager at Taiwan International Securities (金鼎證券), said yesterday. Market heavyweight Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (台積電) gained 0.4 percent to close at NT$55.10, while memorychip maker Nanya Technology Corp (聯電) ended at NT$24.65, up 0.6 percent.
■ Packager blames loss on fire
Advanced Semiconductor Engineering Inc (日月光半導體), the world's biggest packager of semiconductors, said it expects to post a loss of NT$8 billion (US$253 million) to NT$9 billion in the second quarter because of a factory fire. The company's plant in northern Taiwan was damaged on May 1 by a fire that may have been caused by a boiler explosion. Insurance will cover NT$4 billion of losses from the incident, said Freddie Liu (劉思亮), a spokesman for the Kaohsiung-based company. "We'll book all the losses from the fire in the second quarter. Asset write-down will total between NT$12 billion and NT$13 billion," Liu said yesterday. The company had a net loss of NT$128 million in the first quarter as demand for chips used in personal computers and mobile phones fell. Advanced Semiconductor Engineering expects earnings to improve in the third quarter, as demand for chips used in PCs, consumer electronics and communications products picks up, Liu said, without offering a forecast.
■ AIG arranges financing
American International Group Inc (AIG), the world's largest insurer, hired five banks to arrange NT$10 billion (US$317 million) of financing for its credit-card business in Taiwan. BNP Paribas SA, Bank of Taiwan (台灣銀行), Calyon, Chang Hwa Commercial Bank (彰化銀行) and Standard Chartered Plc were picked to arrange the deal for the Taipei-based AIG Credit Card Co (Taiwan) Ltd, the banks said in a statement. The financing includes NT$4 billion in revolving credit and a NT$6 billion guarantee to back sales of commercial paper.
■ NT dollar remains weak
The New Taiwan dollar remained weak against its US counterpart yesterday, dropping NT$0.008 to close at NT$31.618 on the Taipei foreign exchange market. Turnover was US$974 million, down from US$1.25 billion the previous day.
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