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Optimism pushes shares higher

Shares closed 1.48 percent higher yesterday as investors were encouraged by optimism on Wall Street that the US Federal Reserve might cut its key rate and give the market a big push, dealers said.

Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke's reported remark in a letter to Senator Charles Schumer that policymakers were "prepared to act as needed" if the market's turbulence hurts the economy renewed hopes for such a move, they said.

Select Taiwanese companies reported solid earnings for the first half to June, contributing further to upbeat trade on the broad market, they said.

The TAIEX closed up 127.89 points at 8,771.21. Turnover was NT$156.21 billion (US$4.73 billion).

Risers led decliners 1,280 to 437 with 215 stocks unchanged.

On the foreign exchange market, the New Taiwan dollar rose NT$0.010 to close at NT$33.050.

Foreign fund managers brought a net NT$10.65 billion in Taiwanese stocks yesterday, the stock exchange's statistics showed.

Turnover was US$738 million on the Taipei Forex Inc.

Uni-President shares hit high

Shares in the nation's largest processed food maker, Uni-President Enterprises Corp (統一企業), were at a record high after second quarter profit doubled and Citigroup Inc raised its target price yesterday.

The Tainan-based maker of instant noodles and drinks rose NT$2.35, or 6.93 percent, to NT$36.25.

Uni-President's second quarter profit more than doubled from a year earlier to NT$2.3 billion, figures derived by Bloomberg by subtracting first quarter net income from first half earnings released on Wednesday showed.

Uni-President's profit in the first half surged 140 percent from a year earlier to NT$4.98 billion, the company said in a filing to the Taiwan Stock Exchange.

Citigroup Inc raised its price forecast for the stock to NT$41 from NT$33.90, citing the better-than-expected second quarter profit.

Computer giants sued in US

Apple Inc, Dell Inc and Acer Inc were sued by a Californian firm that owns a patent covering a method for decoding audio and video signals for faster playback or recording on a computer yesterday.

Apple's MacPro, Mac Mini, MacBook and iMac are among the computer models that infringe a patent issued last year for a "method and system for direct recording of video information onto a disk medium," software maker Mediostream Inc said in a complaint filed in a US federal court in Tyler, Texas.

Dell, Acer and Gateway Inc computers also infringe the patent, Mediostream, based in Los Altos, California, contends. The company seeks cash compensation for past infringements and an order permanently banning all four companies from using the invention.

ITC turn down Philips request

Royal Philips Electronics NV, Europe's largest consumer electronics maker, said a US trade panel has refused to delay a ban on importing chips made by Epistar Corp (晶元光電) while the case is appealed.

In May, the US International Trade Commission (ITC) said that imports of certain light-emitting diode chips made by Epistar should be blocked because they infringe a patent owned by Philips Lumileds. The chips are used in traffic signals and brake lights.

Epistar asked the Washington-based trade agency and the US Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit, which will hear the appeal, to put the ban on hold while the company challenges the underlying infringement ruling.

Should the Federal Circuit also reject Epistar's request to extend the delay, the import ban will be enforced, Philips said.

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