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Bellwethers draw TAIEX down

Taiwanese shares closed 0.18 percent lower yesterday on profit-taking with bellwether technology stocks leading the declines, dealers said.

The broader market traded in a narrow band, taking a cue from Wall Street’s mixed showing overnight after disappointing US economic readings and an uneven batch of earnings reports, they said.

The weighted index closed down 16.09 points at 9,074.34, off a high of 9,123.07 and a low of 9,025.01, on turnover of NT$180.61 billion (US$5.96 billion).

Decliners outnumbered advancers 1,262 to 1,034, with 299 stocks unchanged.

In the week to yesterday, the weighted index closed up 164.76 points or 1.85 percent at 9,074.34 after a 3.64 percent increase a week earlier.

Average daily turnover stood at NT$194.43 billion, compared with NT$147.43 billion a week ago.

China Steel profits decline

China Steel Corp (中鋼), Taiwan’s largest steelmaker, had a 9.4 percent decline in first-quarter pretax profit after costs climbed.

Profit before taxes was NT$14.34 billion (US$472 million) in the three months to March 31, the Kaohsiung-based steel mill said in a filing to the Taiwan Stock Exchange yesterday, without releasing its net income. That compared with NT$15.8 billion a year earlier, according to a previous filing.

Costs of importing coking coal used in steelmaking surged 16 percent from a year earlier to US$130.77 a tonne in the first two months of the year, according to the Web site of the Bureau of Energy. The company in February agreed to pay 65 percent more for iron ore supplied under contract by Cia. Vale do Rio Doce.

Investment approvals fall

The Ministry of Economic Affairs’ Investment Commission said yesterday the number of applications for foreign direct investment approved last quarter was 458, down 1.72 percent year-on-year, while the approved investment amount dropped 21.19 percent to US$1.19 billion (NT$36.03 billion).

The total number of applications of outward investment approved last quarter, excluding China, was 100, down 15.97 percent year-on-year, while the amount surged 129.1 percent year-on-year to US$1.16 billion.

Meanwhile, the number of applications of investment to China approved last quarter was 184, down 29 percent year-on-year, while the amount decreased 4.61 percent year-on-year to US$1.98 billion.

Semiconductor orders drop

North American orders for semiconductor equipment fell 18 percent last month as chipmakers curbed spending in an industry contraction that’s lasted more than a year.

Orders dropped to US$1.16 billion last month from US$1.42 billion in March last year, the trade group Semiconductor Equipment & Materials International said on Thursday in an e-mailed statement.

The book-to-bill ratio was 0.89 last month, meaning that chip-equipment producers in North America received US$89 in new orders for every US$100 in products sold. A ratio of less than 1 signals the industry is shrinking.

“This trend is a reflection of the uncertainty in the semiconductor industry and with current economic conditions,” said Dan Tracy, senior director of Industry Research and Statistics at San Jose, California-based SEMI.

NT dollar loses ground

The New Taiwan dollar continued losing ground against its US counterpart, following US dollar purchases by the central bank and some importers, dealers said.

The NT dollar dropped NT$0.009 to close at NT$30.284 against the US dollar on the Taipei Forex Inc, with a turnover of US$973 million.


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