TAIEX advances, led by consumer electronics' gain

Shares rose for the third straight session yesterday, led by gains in consumer electronics makers following strong December sales and a positive outlook for 2006.

The TAIEX rose 93.43 points, or 1.4 percent, to 6,709.87, on turnover of NT$165.89 billion (US$5.13 billion).

Some traders expected mobile phone shipments in the first quarter of the new year to stay at the level reached during the year-end holiday season, or even to rise.

"Mobile phone shipments in the first quarter are likely to be flat or better than those in the fourth quarter on launches of new handset models," said Derek Lam, senior trader at Daiwa Securities SMBC-Cathay Co (大和國泰證券).

Traditionally, mobile phone shipments peak in the fourth quarter, he said.

High Tech Computer Inc (宏達電), the world's largest maker of handhelds that use Microsoft Corp's operating system, rose by the 7 percent daily limit to NT$682 on optimism about sales of third-generation mobile phones.

"The market has high expectations for the company's potentially explosive growth in the 3G area," said Fubon Securities Co's (富邦證券) analyst Laura Chen.

Compal Communications Inc (華寶通訊), which makes phones for Motorola on a contract basis, rose 6.9 percent to NT$171.5, after saying its December revenue nearly doubled from the same month a year earlier to NT$5.29 billion.

Hon Hai Precision Industry Co (鴻海精密), the world's largest electronics contract manufacturer by revenue, rose 3.6 percent to NT$203, after Deutsche Bank predicted the stock could rise to NT$220, citing effective cost controls and new orders from Motorola and Sony Ericsson.