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TAIEX rally runs out of steam

Taiwanese shares closed 0.47 percent lower yesterday as construction sector and some industrial stocks fell, dealers said.

The market opened higher following gains on Wall Street overnight and a drop in oil prices, but lost steam later despite a mild bounce in the technology sector, dealers said.

The weighted index closed down 42.50 points at 8,947.83, off a high of 9,062.97 and low of 8,945.22, on turnover of NT$149.52 billion (US$4.93 billion).

Decliners outnumbered advancers 1,670 to 671, with 321 stocks unchanged. A total of 19 stocks closed limit-up, while 21 were limit-down.

For the week to yesterday, the weighted index closed down 126.51 points, or 1.39 percent, after a 1.85 percent increase a week earlier.

Average daily turnover stood at NT$156.94 billion, compared with NT$194.43 billion a week earlier.

Prosecutors probe FX deal

Taiwanese prosecutors may question Goldman Sachs Group Inc executives as part of a probe into a 10-year foreign-currency derivatives contract the company signed with Chunghwa Telecom Co (中華電信), the nation’s largest phone operator.

“We will question Goldman if we think it will help us understand the case,” Lin Chin-chun (林錦村), a spokesman for the Taipei District Prosecutors’ Office, said by telephone yesterday.

Prosecutors on Wednesday questioned six Chunghwa executives, including chief financial officer Joseph Shieh (謝劍平), as witnesses in connection with the contract to hedge against volatility in the US dollar-NT dollar exchange rate, Lin said.

Officials are probing whether the deal involved illegal activity and why the contract, signed in September last year, lasts for 10 years instead of the usual two to three, he said.

Chunghwa Telecom said on March 5 it wrote off NT$3 billion for losses from a foreign-currency derivatives contract that fell in value as the NT dollar appreciated.

Government honors inspectors

The government held an award ceremony yesterday to honor 10 of the Intellectual Property Office’s (IPO) 300 inspectors as part of a series of events to mark World Intellectual Property Day.

Wang Mei-hua (王美花), director-general of the office, stressed that innovation and IP protection were necessary to develop a knowledge-based economy.

She said the IPO needs to deal with about 80,000 patent and IP applications per year, but has only 300 inspectors to evaluate them, an indication of the inspectors’ heavy workload.

Between 2001 and 2005, Taiwan ranked third in the world in the number of innovative patents registered, averaging 242 per million people, lagging only behind the US and Japan.

Faraday profits disappoint

Shares in Faraday Technology Corp (智原科技), the second-worst performing chip designer on the Taiwan Stock Exchange for the past six months, fell in Taipei after profits missed estimates and Fubon Securities Co (富邦證券) downgraded the stock.

The firm on Thursday posted a first-quarter profit of NT$214 million, lower than all three analyst estimates compiled by Bloomberg.

Faraday previously forecast full-year sales would increase 15 percent to 20 percent this year, even though they would be little changed in the first half, Fubon analyst Mike Shen wrote yesterday.

NT dollar closes lower

The NT dollar fell against the US dollar on the Taipei Foreign Exchange yesterday, dropping NT$0.043 to close at NT$30.340.

US$1.24 billion changed hands yesterday.
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