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■ TAIEX rises, led by steel shares
Shares rose yesterday, with steel stocks leading gains on expectations that producers would benefit from rising demand in China as suppliers there cut production. The TAIEX rose 34.11 points, or 0.6 percent, to 5,798.41. China Steel Corp (中鋼), the nation's largest steel producer by revenue, jumped 3 percent to NT$27.25. The company's shares had dropped 10.6 percent last month. Electronics contract manufacturers rose after they reported an increase in third-quarter net profit and gave a bullish outlook for next year. Hon Hai Precision Industries (鴻海精密), the world's largest electronics contract manufacturer by revenue, surged 3.8 percent to NT$150.5, while Quanta Computer Inc (廣達電腦), the world's largest laptop contract maker by shipments, gained 3 percent to NT$47.7.

■ Citigroup upgrades Hon Hai
Hon Hai Precision Industry Co (鴻海精密) had a recommendation on its shares upgraded to "buy" from "sell" at Citigroup Inc, which cited strong investment income and third-quarter profit. Hon Hai's third-quarter net income rose 40 percent from a year earlier to NT$11.1 billion (US$330 million). Hon Hai continues to gain market share "in the computer, networking and handset sectors," Kirk Yang (楊應超), an analyst at Citigroup, said yesterday in a research report. Yang raised his 12-month target price on the stock to NT$170 from NT$139.

■ Arrow bids for Ultra Source
Arrow Electronics Inc, the world's largest distributor of computer parts, offered to buy as much as 70 percent of Ultra Source Technology Corp (奇普仕), a stake worth about NT$2 billion (US$59 million), aiming to add suppliers in Taiwan. Its Taiwan unit is making a bid of NT$22.50 a share, Melville, New York-based Arrow said yesterday in a statement. The offer is 12 percent more than the overnight closing share price of NT$20.1 for Taipei-based Ultra Source, which sells electronic components.

■ Asustek may snare Dell orders
Asustek Computer Inc (華碩電腦), the nation's largest motherboard maker, is expected to get orders to make Dell Inc notebook computers, becoming its fourth laptop contract manufacturer, a Chinese-language newspaper said, citing foreign brokerages including Goldman, Sachs & Co. The company may win the Dell orders by the end of next year, the newspaper said. Asustek will accelerate the process of separating its own-brand business from its contract manufacturing operation and expects the shift to be completed within 18 months, compared with the previous prediction of three years, the newspaper said.

■ MOEA releases outlook results
A Ministry of Economic Affairs survey of manufacturers shows one-third expect the investment environment to worsen. About 63 percent of the 3,273 Taiwanese manufacturers surveyed in June said they expected the domestic investment environment to remain unchanged in the six months to Dec. 31, with 4 percent see an improving environment, the ministry said in a statement issued late on Monday. Of those surveyed, 32 percent said they planned to invest more in the second half than in the first, while 44 percent said their second-half investment would be about the same as the first half, the poll showed. About 24 percent expected their investment to decline.

■ NT dollar declines
The New Taiwan dollar lost some ground against its US counterpart yesterday, declining NT$0.032 to close at NT$33.583 on the Taipei foreign exchange market. Turnover was US$735 million.

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