Stocks fall for fourth day
Shares fell for the fourth straight session yesterday, dragged down by concerns about record high oil prices, declines on Wall Street overnight and selling pressure from institutional investors.
The TAIEX fell 9.45 points, or 0.2 percent, to 6,212.60, on turnover of NT$76.08 billion (US$2.37 billion).
"There's a general lack of confidence for the market in the short-term, stemming partly from high oil prices," said Andrew Teng (鄧安瀾), sales manager at Taiwan International Securities (金鼎證券).
Domestic institutional investors are mostly selling stocks to lock in profits after a 500-point rise in the benchmark index over the past three months, Teng said.
"Selling pressure is expected," he said.
The drop in US financial markets Wednesday also hurt sentiment.
The US dollar has appreciated 1.6 percent against the New Taiwan Dollar since June 29. That is causing investors to pull out of the local market, said Derek Lam, a senior trader of Fubon Securities (富邦證券).
Chunghwa files for share sale
Chunghwa Telecom Co (中華電信), the nation's biggest telephone-service provider, filed with US regulators to sell as much as US$2.8 billion in shares, moving the government closer to a goal of taking the company private.
As many as 1.29 billion shares would be sold in the form of American depositary shares, Chunghwa said yesterday in the filing with the US Securities and Exchange Commission. That represents about a 13 percent stake, according to the filing. Each ADR represents 10 common shares of Chunghwa.
Chunghwa will be able to "more rapidly and efficiently develop our business and respond to changing market conditions, as well as implement cost-saving reforms" should the sale be completed, letting the government meet a target of cutting its stake to less than 50 percent, according to the filing.
Taiwan Mobile's Q2 profit up
Taiwan Mobile Co (台灣大哥大), the nation's second-biggest mobile-phone operator by subscribers, had a 19 percent increase in second-quarter profit.
Net income rose to NT$4.29 billion (US$134 million) from NT$3.59 billion a year earlier. The figure was derived by subtracting three-month profit from first-half earnings the firm announced yesterday. The company said first-half profit slipped 0.6 percent from a year earlier to NT$8.2 billion.
Acer reports jump in sales
Acer Inc, Taiwan's third-largest computer maker by market value, said sales last month rose 51.6 percent from a year earlier to NT$14.9 billion (US$464 million).
Sales climbed from NT$9.85 billion in June last year, the company said yesterday in a filing to the Taiwan Stock Exchange. Revenue rose from NT$14.6 billion in May.
Tax-break plan to be reviewed
The government will hold a cross-ministry meeting today to review a plan that gives five-year tax exemptions to providers of high-speed wireless Internet services for mobile phones, a Chinese-language newspaper reported citing the Ministry of Transportation and Communications.
The meeting was called by the Cabinet's tax reform division, the newspaper said. The government drafted a proposal at the end of last year to include 3G services in its five-year tax-free category, according to the report.
The government is trying to increase tax revenue and balance the budget between five and 10 years as the deficit widens. It estimates the shortfall will increase to NT$337.3 billion (US$10.6 billion) this year, from an estimated NT$304 billion last year.
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