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■ TAIEX closes lower
Shares fell yesterday, with investors taking profits after global oil prices hit new highs. The TAIEX fell 10.63 points, or 0.16 percent, to 6,989.46, on turnover of NT$110.12 billion (US$3.39 billion). Decliners led gainers 522 to 377, with 104 stocks unchanged. The key index had risen nearly 10 percent from March 23 to finish at 7,000.09 on Monday, its highest closing level since March 4, 2004. That prompted investors to sell shares, especially after oil prices in the US rose to US$70.40 a barrel overnight, a record closing high. Tourism-related companies were the worst performers, with the subindex losing 2.5 percent.

■ Taisugar announces changes
The chairman of state-owned enterprise Taiwan Sugar Corp (Taisugar, 台糖), Yu Cheng-hsien (余政憲), said yesterday that seven divisions of the corporation will be privatized next year, except the Sugar Business Division and company assets. Yu added that Taisugar will establish an asset management holding corporation after the divisions privatization. Taisugar has eight divisions and owns four sugar factories (located in Nanjing, Shanhua, Beigang, and Huwei) with a total milling capacity of 13,000 tonnes per day, and a sugar refinery in Hsiaokang with a melting capacity of 1,200 tonnes per day.

■ FAT to fly fresh fish to Japan
Far Eastern Air Transport (FAT, 遠東) will open an all-cargo air link between Palau and Japan via Taipei to transport the north Pacific nation's fresh marine catches to Japan. FAT will use a Boeing 757-200 all-cargo aircraft with a maximum cargo capacity of 26 metric tons to ply the route, with the first flight taking off from Taipei to Palau today, FAT announced yesterday. After being loaded with cargo, the inaugural flight will return to Taipei today, where the cargo will be transferred to flights destined for Japan, according to FAT. Palau's fresh marine catch is usually shipped to Japan via Guam, so the new route provides more flights to Japan and will serve Palauan fishery operators better with larger cargo loads and bigger transportation flexibility, FAT executives said.

■ Powerchip plans expansion
Powerchip Semiconductor Corp (力晶半導體), the nation's largest memory-chip maker, plans to expand into the solar-energy industry by investing in Wafer Works Corp (合晶科技), the Commercial Times said, without saying where it obtained the information. Powerchip has been buying Wafer Works shares on the open market and plans to seek a seat on the company's board, the newspaper said yesterday. Taoyuan-based Wafer Works, which makes and sells semiconductor-related products, owns a solar-cell plant in China, according to the report.

■ CMC to put DVD prices up
CMC Magnetics Corp (中環), the world's biggest maker of recordable discs used in DVD players, plans to raise the prices of its recordable DVD discs in the third quarter because of rising demand, the Economic Daily News said, citing chairman Bob Wong (翁明顯). The supply of recordable discs used in DVD players is expected to fall short in the third quarter, the newspaper said, quoting Wong. New prices will be decided next month, according to the report.

■ NT dollar falls
The New Taiwan traded lower against its US counterpart yesterday, declining NT$0.026 to close at NT$32.486 on the Taipei foreign exchange market. Turnover was US$898 million.

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