Shares drop 0.55 percent
Taiwan share prices closed 0.55 percent lower yesterday as weak performances in heavyweight electronics erased an earlier rise over Wall Street gains, dealers said.
The TAIEX fell 43.26 points to 7,811.80, off an early high of 7,904.90 and a low of 7,801.52, on turnover of NT$95.08 billion (US$3.13 billion).
Decliners led risers 1,181 to 1,045, while 462 stocks were unchanged.
A total of 23 stocks closed limit-down and 20 limit-up.
Taiwan Life Asset Management (台壽保投信) assistant vice president Michael Hsu (許派一) said decline in heavyweight electronics dragged down the key index, despite the government’s latest measures aimed at boosting economic ties with China.
“The local bourse is likely to consolidate in the near term in thin volume due to weak prospects in the international markets,” he said.
Foxconn shares down
Foxconn International Holdings Ltd (富士康控股), the world’s biggest contract maker of mobile phones, fell to the lowest in more than two-and-a-half years in Hong Kong trading after Morgan Stanley cut its rating on the stock.
Foxconn dropped 5.3 percent to close at HK$8.72 (US$1.11) on the Hong Kong exchange, the lowest since Nov. 9, 2005. The loss extended this year’s decline in the Shenzhen-based company’s stock, the worst performer on the Hang Seng Index, to 50 percent.
Income at Foxconn, controlled by Hon Hai Precision Industry Co (鴻海精密), could fall this year as the mobile-phone unit increases spending to develop more advanced handsets, Morgan Stanley analyst Jasmine Lu (呂智穎) wrote in a report yesterday. She cut her recommendation to “equal-weight” from “overweight” and the share-price estimate by 35 percent to HK$10.35.
DBS appoints Jerry Chen
Development Bank of Singapore (DBS, 星展銀行) announced on Wednesday it had appointed veteran banker Jerry Chen (陳亮丞) as general manager of DBS Taiwan, after the Singaporean bank acquired the “good bank assets” of Bowa Bank (寶華銀行) last month.
Chen will formally join DBS Taiwan on July 16.
The 56-year-old Chen served as president of Ta Chong Bank (大眾銀行) between July 2004 and last month. He shifted to become a senior adviser and a member of the board of Ta Chong after Edmund Koh (許健洲), a former managing director and head of regional consumer banking group at DBS Group Holdings, replaced him as new president.
Cellphone owners in China up
Almost one in two Chinese people now has a cellphone, while the number of fixed-line subscribers has fallen, state media said yesterday.
The number of cellphone subscribers in the country of 1.3 billion stood at 592 million at the end of last month, Xinhua news agency reported, quoting Ministry of Information Industry figures.
The figure was up nine percent from 547.3 million at the end of last year, previously released official data had said.
Xinhua report said the main factor behind the growth was a trend for operators to cut fees in order to gain market share.
Fixed-line users fell 6.5 million in the first five months of the year to 358 million, it said.
NT drops against greenback
The NT dollar dropped against the US dollar on the Taipei Foreign Exchange yesterday, falling NT$0.003 to close at NT$30.383.
A total of US$1.006 billion changed hands during the day’s trading.
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