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Taiwan shares close up

Taiwan share prices closed 2.03 percent higher yesterday after the last session before the long Lunar New Year trading break, dealers said.

The TAIEX closed up 152.86 points at 7,673.99, having traded in a range of 7,583.65 to 7,706.03, on turnover of NT$123.10 billion (US$3.85 billion).

Risers led decliners 1,485 to 418, while 376 stocks remained unchanged.

Alex Huang (黃國偉), an assistant vice president at Mega International Investment Services (兆豐國際投顧), credited the market's strong showing to the combination of Wall Street's overnight gains and ample liquidity.

"Thanks to the upswing in the local currency following the US Fed's aggressive cuts in interest rates, investors were willing to raise their equity portfolios in anticipation of capital inflows to the island," Huang said.

Lunar New Year is the time when companies pay annual bonuses to staff, so the Taipei bourse could attract buyers when traders return to work on Feb. 12, he said.

UPS announces extended hours

United Parcel Service (UPS) announced an extension of its service hours on Monday and Tuesday to provide delivery for customers who are struggling to cope with tight shipping deadlines ahead of the coming Lunar New Year festivities.

All of its service centers across the country will extend services by one to two hours on these two days.

In addition, UPS also introduces a new shipping packaging combination this year to guarantee the same express courier service for heavy packages with small parcels.

Customers can also make appointments before noon on Tuesday to get their parcels on the following day, which is Lunar New Year's Eve.

Macronix reports big profits

Macronix International Co (旺宏電子) reported on Thursday its profits grew substantially to NT$4.65 billion (US$144.6 million), or NT$1.55 in earnings per share, last year on higher shipments.

The Hsinchu-based firm, which produces so-called ROM products and NOR flash memory chips for clients, said last year's profits were up 128.81 percent from 2006, when the company reported NT$2.03 billion profits, or NT$0.7 a share.

Profit in the fourth quarter reached NT$1.24 billion, a five-year high for the same quarter during the last five years, the company said. Earnings per share were NT$0.41 in the three months ended December, down from NT$0.69 in the previous quarter and NT$0.46 a year earlier, the company said in a statement.

For the first-quarter outlook, president Lu Chih-yuan (盧志遠) said he expected unit shipment to drop 10 percent to 15 percent from the previous quarter, average selling prices may decline 5 percent to 10 percent, and revenue may be lowered by 14.5 percent to 23.5 percent in the meantime, because of seasonal factors.

Taiwan drawn into EU probe

The EU's threat of tariffs on steel from China has been extended to Taiwan and South Korea, with a new probe into cheap imports that compete against EU producers including ThyssenKrupp AG.

The inquiry is into whether Chinese, Taiwanese and Korean exporters sell stainless steel in the 27-nation EU below cost, a practice known as dumping. It covers 2.1 billion euros (US$3.1 billion) in imports of cold-rolled flat products, used in everything from tanks to boilers and kitchen equipment.

The commission has nine months to decide whether to impose provisional anti-dumping duties for half a year and EU governments have 15 months to choose whether to apply "definitive" levies for five years.

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