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Shares rise on Hu comments

Taiwanese shares closed up 0.20 percent yesterday on hopes that relations with China will improve under president-elect Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九), who takes office in May, dealers said.

They said expectations were renewed by reports that Chinese President Hu Jintao (胡錦濤) had agreed Beijing and Taipei should resume dialogue on the basis of the "1992 consensus," under which both sides recognize there is only one China but agree to differ on its definition.

The weighted index closed up 17.53 points at 8,623.48 off a low of 8,564.03 and a high of 8,668.22. Turnover was NT$155.40 billion (US$5.11 billion).

Advancers led decliners 1,386 to 722, with 326 stocks unchanged. Sixteen stocks closed limit-up, while 18 were limit-down.

For the week to March 28, the weighted index closed up 98.49 points, or 1.16 percent, after a 4.46 percent increase a week earlier.

Average daily turnover stood at NT$194.49 billion, compared with NT$132.04 billion a week ago.

Plug for Hungary trade

Taiwan's representative to Hungary has urged Taiwanese businesses to invest in the East European country, saying there is ample room for companies to explore the market there.

In an interview in this month's issue of Diplomatic, a Hungarian monthly magazine, Kao Shuo-tai (高碩泰) said two-way trade with Hungary reached nearly US$1 billion last year and added that this was likely to grow in the years to come.

Kao said that five Taiwanese multinational conglomerates have established manufacturing operations in Hungary, creating more than 5,000 jobs.

Kao said his office -- established in the 1990s to help facilitate trade, tourism and cultural exchange -- will help expand the Taiwan Chamber of Commerce in Hungary, which currently consists of 12 Taiwanese firms, and will help the group strengthen exchanges with the local business community.

The Hungarian capital Budapest attracts about 10,000 Taiwanese tourists each year.

Qisda to sell stock

Qisda Corp (佳世達), the Taiwanese electronics maker formed from BenQ Corp (明基), said that it plans to sell NT$5 billion (US$165 million) in stock through a private placement.

Qisda plans to sell 226.1 million shares at NT$22.11 each to increase its working capital, the Taoyuan-based firm said yesterday in a filing to the stock exchange.

Bad loan ratio falls

Taiwanese banks experienced an average non-performing loan ratio of 1.79 percent last month, which was down from 1.83 percent in January, the Financial Supervisory Commission said in a statement on Thursday.

In terms of dollar value, bad loans totaled NT$319.9 billion last month against combined outstanding loans of NT$17.87 trillion, the statement showed. In comparison, bad loans totaled NT$328.7 billion in January, the statement added.

AT&T using Qualcomm

AT&T Inc, the biggest US wireless service, will offer television to customers on their mobile phones starting in May using Qualcomm Inc technology.

The service, which is called AT&T Mobile TV with FLO, will have two exclusive AT&T channels and full-length programs provided by Comedy Central, ESPN Mobile, MTV and others, San Antonio-based AT&T said on Thursday.

The AT&T service will be offered first on phones made by LG Electronics Inc and Samsung Electronics Co. The two phones being used for the service will be exclusive to AT&T.
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