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Share prices little changed

Taipei share prices closed little changed yesterday as a lackluster showing on Wall Street overnight slowed the recent rally made on hopes of a thaw in Taiwan-China relations, dealers said.

The weighted index closed up 13.84 points or 0.16 percent at 8,483.95, off a low of 8,439.35 and a high of 8,559.59, on turnover of NT$173.26 billion (US$5.62).

Decliners led risers 1,102 to 926, with 311 stocks unchanged.

"We already had a big run yesterday and now the market faces mounting pressure," said Mega International Investment Services (兆豐國際投顧) assistant vice president Alex Huang (黃國偉), pointing to the convergence of the index's six-month and one-year moving averages in the 8,500-8,600 point range.

OPEC agrees on steady output

OPEC ministers yesterday agreed to keep output steady and said record high prices had been driven by factors that were beyond their control.

US crude hit a record of US$103.95 a barrel on Monday and was trading above US$100 yesterday.

Washington has said even a token supply increase from OPEC would help to tame prices.

But OPEC said the oil market has been driven upwards by factors such as a weak dollar, speculation and political strife, and not by a lack of crude.

Acer overtakes Dell

Acer Inc overtook Dell Inc to be the second-largest maker of notebook computers in the fourth quarter after its first acquisition in four years added customers in the US and Europe.

Acer shipped 5.25 million notebooks for a global market share of 16 percent, DisplaySearch said in a statement yesterday. Dell fell to third place after shipping 4.64 million for a 14 percent share, while Hewlett-Packard Co kept its lead with 6.66 million, or a 20 percent share, the researcher said.

The firm overtook Dell in notebooks after buying Gateway Inc in October, as its rival faltered in a strategy of selling through retailers for the first time.

Steel mill slated for Vietnam

Taiwan's Formosa Heavy Industries Corp (台朔重工) plans to invest US$6.1 billion to build a steel mill in Vietnam, a report said yesterday.

The company was expected to secure Vietnamese approval in the first half of this year, after Formosa Group (台塑集團) chairman Wang Wen-yuan (王文淵) met with Vietnamese Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung last week, the Chinese-language Commercial Times said, citing unnamed sources.

The newspaper said the mill's annual capacity will be 7.5 million tonnes, with production expected to begin in 2011.

Cosmos appoints Steve Chou

Cosmos Bank (萬泰銀行) yesterday appointed Steve Chou (周榮生), formerly president of Chinatrust Bank, USA (美國中信銀), to be its president and chief executive officer, effective April 1.

"This appointment will further strengthen Cosmos' top management team as it spearheads more growth initiatives, to bring the bank another step closer towards becoming a leading provider of financial services in Taiwan," a bank press statement said yesterday.

Reporting directly to chairman Simon Williams, Chou will be responsible for overseeing the bank's overall business and will also replace outgoing president CC Hu (胡建助) as a board director.

NT dollar gains again

The New Taiwan dollar gained for a second day as overseas funds turned net buyers of the nation's stocks and on speculation the monetary authority will let the currency advance to help temper inflation.

It traded near a three-year high after rising NT$0.071 to close at NT$30.879 in Taipei, according to Taipei Forex Inc.
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