Shares close 1.21% lower
Share prices closed down 1.21 percent yesterday after another Wall Street dive on concerns over the US mortgage market, dealers said.
The weighted index fell 87.80 points at 7,156.96, off a low of 7,140.47 and a high of 7,270.49, on turnover of NT$94.87 billion (US$3.12 billion).
Grand Cathay Securities (大華證券) analyst Mars Hsu said foreign institutional investors were major sellers.
“Volatility on Wall Street has further weakened market confidence. Once negative factors emerged, investors rushed to cut positions,” Hsu said, referring to worries over the health of US firms Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac.
“That’s why heavyweight financial stocks led the broader market down,” Hsu said.
Regulators have found that local banks and insurers have bought notes issued by Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, but said there had been no need yet to make any provisions.
Dealers said investors would continue to take cues from the US market and oil price movements.
Uni adds Matsu flight
Uni Air (立榮航空) has decided to add one flight daily to its Taipei-Matsu route from Aug. 1 in line with the government’s policy of expanding the “small three links” between Taiwan and China, the airline said yesterday.
The added flight will depart from Taipei’s Songshan Airport and return from Matsu’s Nangan Airport (南竿), the airline said.
The airline will also replace its 37-seat DH-200 aircraft with a 56-seat DH-300 plane on one of its daily flights to boost passenger capacity.
The airline said it will make adjustments monthly to its schedule, if necessary, to meet Matsu’s transportation needs.
The “small three links” refer to direct shipping and trade links between Taiwan’s outlying islands of Kinmen and Matsu and the Chinese ports of Xiamen, Mawei and Quanzhou in Fujian Province.
Chunghwa, CMC sign contracts
OC Oerlikon Corp, the world’s biggest maker of thin-film solar panel equipment, won two contracts from Sunwell, a unit of CMC Magnetics Corp (中環公司) in Taiwan.
Pfaeffikon, Switzerland-based Oerlikon also began a partnership with Flextronics International Inc to help increase capacity more quickly, Oerlikon said in two e-mailed statements yesterday.
Meanwhile, Nokia Siemens Networks, the world’s second-biggest maker of wireless networks, won a contract valued at 72 million euros (US$114 million) from Chunghwa Telecom Co (中華電信) in Taiwan.
Nokia Siemens will upgrade Chunghwa’s third-generation wireless network, the Espoo, Finland-based company said yesterday in an e-mailed statement.
Epson unveils new inkjet
Epson Taiwan Technology & Trading Ltd (臺灣愛普生), the nation’s largest inkjet printer maker, yesterday launched its latest inkjet printer B-508DN, targeting business users.
The new printer, priced at NT$19,900 (US$654.64), features a large-capacity ink cartridge, allowing it to print over 7,000 pages, without replacements.
“By using a 1,000 page monthly printout estimate, users over a span of three years can save over 74 percent of total cost, as opposed to using comparable laser printers currently out in the market,” company sales manager Eugene Chen (陳郁仁) said yesterday.
The company vowed to take up a 50 percent market share three years from now from its current 46 percent as of the first quarter.
NT weakens against dollar
The New Taiwan dollar yesterday weakened by NT$0.012 to close at NT$30.404 against the greenback on turnover of US$526 million.
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