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Shares close higher

Taiwanese shares closed 0.26 percent higher yesterday as investors locked in profits driven by Wall Street's overnight rally and the continuing strength of the New Taiwan dollar, dealers said.

Despite the profit taking, the market's prospects remain positive as investors continue to bet on improved ties with rival China after Taiwan's presidential vote next month, they said.

The TAIEX closed up 21.36 points at 8,307.67, off a high of 8,386.54 and a low of 8,258.87, on turnover of NT$174.59 billion (US$5.6 billion).

Decliners led risers 1,077 to 865, with 379 stocks unchanged. A total of 29 stocks closed limit-down and 23 limit-up.

Broadband use grows

The nation's broadband Internet users have exceeded 6.26 million, with the majority of users connecting to the Internet through an ADSL service, followed by cable modem.

"The government plans to bring Taiwan forward to an advanced ICT-based country by increasing the nation's broadband infrastructure through the Ubiquitous Network Society (UNS) project, which aims to provide between 20 to 30 megabits per second (Mbps) per household," said Tony Teng (鄧添來), director general of the Ministry of Transportation and Communications' department of posts and telecommunications, yesterday at a press briefing.

His remarks came as the Asia Pacific Regional Internet Conference on Operational Technologies (APRICOT) holds its annual gathering in Taipei this year from Feb. 20 to Feb. 29, with some 800 participants coming from 50 countries.

FSC toughens loan sale rules

The Financial Supervisory Commission (FSC) yesterday toughened up regulations on future sales of non-performing loans, promoting greater transparency in liquidation among local financial institutions.

The measures remain legally non-binding, but will allow the commission to impose substantial penalties on banks which obviously perform poorly in internal risk control if any violations of the measures are found.

The newly-approved measures require banks to invite independent appraisers if the proposed floor price of to-be-sold bad loans exceeds NT$3 billion or 20 percent of the company's capital.

Banks will also not be allowed to reserve the rights to reject bidders for no reason or negotiate a lower closing price with certain bidders should auctions fails to close, the commission said.

"The measures aim to prevent trading irregularities by some banks that sold bad loans to no one other than its affiliated asset management companies," the commission's Vice Chairwoman Susan Chang (張秀蓮) said yesterday.

Chip prices may rise

Powerchip Semiconductor Corp (力晶半導體), the nation's biggest producer of computer-memory chips, predicted prices will rise in about a month after chipmakers scaled back production, easing an industry glut.

Prices of the benchmark 1 gigabit computer memory chip may climb to US$3.50 by as early as July, from about US$2 now, Powerchip president Brian Shieh (謝再居) said in Taipei yesterday. Prices will "hover" above US$2 for the next month as customers sell excess inventory, he said.

Global demand for dynamic random access memory, or DRAM, chips will rise 55 percent to 60 percent this year, while supply will climb by 45 percent to 55 percent, Shieh said.

Powerchip's capital spending for next year will rise to about NT$40 billion, from this year's NT$35.1 billion, because it plans to build a 12-inch factory in Hsinchu to make NAND flash chips, he said.
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