Share prices closed 0.51 percent lower yesterday, after bargain-hunting cut losses triggered earlier by concerns over domestic political uncertainty and the US interest rate outlook, dealers said.
The weighted index closed down 33.87 points at 6,556.33, after trading between 6,454.71 and 6,587.46, on turnover of NT$76.05 billion (US$2.32 billion).
After the market's early losses, "investors hunted for bargains among [companies] with bright earnings prospects," said Alvin Teng (鄧可欣), assistant vice president with SinoPac Securities (建華證券).
Some consumer electronics stocks, in particular, attracted interest with their positive prospects ahead of the Christmas shopping season.
Teng said political concerns will be limited if an opposition threat of an indefinite sit-in protest to oust President Chen Shui-bian (
Otherwise, analysts said the risk of any violent confrontation during the protest may still create political uncertainty that could hang over the market in the short term.
United Microelectronics Corp (聯電) closed off NT$0.15 at NT$18.40, despite news that it acquired NT$30.50 million shares of ProMOS Technologies Inc (茂德科技) at an average price of NT$12.94 each. ProMOS gained NT$0.10 to NT$12.75.
China Development Financial Holding Corp (中華開發金控) fell NT$0.10 to NT$12.45 despite news that Standard Poor's has revised the outlook on the company's long-term counterparty credit ratings to "positive" from "stable."
Chunghwa Telecom Co (
BUSINESS UPDATE: The iPhone assembler said operations outlook is expected to show quarter-on-quarter and year-on-year growth for the second quarter Hon Hai Precision Industry Co (鴻海精密) yesterday reported strong growth in sales last month, potentially raising expectations for iPhone sales while artificial intelligence (AI)-related business booms. The company, which assembles the majority of Apple Inc’s smartphones, reported a 19.03 percent rise in monthly sales to NT$510.9 billion (US$15.78 billion), from NT$429.22 billion in the same period last year. On a monthly basis, sales rose 14.16 percent, it said. The company in a statement said that last month’s revenue was a record-breaking April performance. Hon Hai, known also as Foxconn Technology Group (富士康科技集團), assembles most iPhones, but the company is diversifying its business to
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GlobalWafers Co (環球晶圓), the world’s No. 3 silicon wafer supplier, yesterday said that revenue would rise moderately in the second half of this year, driven primarily by robust demand for advanced wafers used in high-bandwidth memory (HBM) chips, a key component of artificial intelligence (AI) technology. “The first quarter is the lowest point of this cycle. The second half will be better than the first for the whole semiconductor industry and for GlobalWafers,” chairwoman Doris Hsu (徐秀蘭) said during an online investors’ conference. “HBM would definitely be the key growth driver in the second half,” Hsu said. “That is our big hope
The consumer price index (CPI) last month eased to 1.95 percent, below the central bank’s 2 percent target, as food and entertainment cost increases decelerated, helped by stable egg prices, the Directorate-General of Budget, Accounting and Statistics (DGBAS) said yesterday. The slowdown bucked predictions by policymakers and academics that inflationary pressures would build up following double-digit electricity rate hikes on April 1. “The latest CPI data came after the cost of eating out and rent grew moderately amid mixed international raw material prices,” DGBAS official Tsao Chih-hung (曹志弘) told a news conference in Taipei. The central bank in March raised interest rates by