TAIEX up on technical rebound
Share prices closed up 0.39 percent yesterday after rebounding from recent sharp declines, dealers said.
The weighted index closed 32.02 points higher at 8,201.79, off a low of 8,067.96 and a high of 8,203.98 on turnover of NT$85.5 billion (US$2.8 billion).
Decliners led risers 1,298 to 975, with 405 stocks unchanged. A total of 24 stocks closed limit-up and 35 were limit-down.
“There was a technical rebound today after recent steep falls,” said Allen Lin, an analyst at Concord Securities (康和證券).
He expected the market to continue rising to 8,400 to 8,500 points this week.
Ta Ching Securities’ (大慶證券) Daniel Liu expected the volume to be thin as “many investors are sidelined because they’re watching the inflation trend.”
Vietnam okays technology park
Vietnam has approved a US$1.2 billion high-tech park that will house software, hardware and human resources companies, the Ho Chi Minh City’s People’s Committee said yesterday.
The project is a joint venture between three Taiwanese companies and a Vietnamese partner. Construction is scheduled to begin next month and be completed in 2012, city officials announced on their Web site.
The 15.9-hectare park will be built in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam’s business hub, by Taiwanese firms Teco Electrical and Machinery Co (東元電機), Shining Group (鄉林集團) and the Industrial Bank of Taiwan (台灣工銀), and their Vietnamese partner, Saigon Tel Co.
The park will have enough space for 70,000 workers and will produce software for export, design circuits and chips, and train technology workers.
The Taiwanese companies own 80 percent of the joint venture, while the Vietnamese firm has a 20 percent stake.
Private consumption improving
Growth in private consumption is expected to reach 2.39 percent this year, up from last year’s 2.55 percent, Taiwan Research Institute (TRI, 台綜院) vice president Wu Tsai-yi (吳再益) said at a forum yesterday.
With the thaw in cross-strait relations since the March 22 presidential election, uncertainties weighing on private investment have been erased, Wu said.
This fact, coupled with the launch of weekend cross-strait charter flights and the opening of Taiwan to Chinese tourists next month, could help increase private consumption as well as consumer confidence, he said.
However, because of rising consumer prices, which the institute forecast would increase 3.51 percent this year, real incomes are expected to drop again this year, leading to reduced spending power among low and middle-income earners as well as a drop in consumer confidence, he said.
SDI mulling display options
Samsung SDI Co, the world’s largest maker of organic displays, said it was considering options to increase competitiveness.
“Nothing has been decided as of now,” Suwon, South Korea-based SDI said in a regulatory filing in response to a Korea Exchange query.
Samsung Electronics Co, the world’s largest maker of liquid-crystal displays, also said it’s looking into “various options” for its organic displays business.
SDI and parent Samsung Electronics plan to form a joint venture for their organic light emitting diode business, the Seoul Economic Daily reported yesterday, citing unidentified Samsung executives.
NT dollar gains ground
The NT dollar advanced NT$0.072 to close at NT$30.317 on turnover of US$1.21 billion at the Taipei Foreign Exchange yesterday.
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