Shares rise slightly
Taiwanese shares closed up 0.39 percent yesterday after bargain hunting in late trade reversed early losses on a weak showing by Wall Street overnight, dealers said.
The weighted index rose 17.23 points to 4,423.09 off a low of 4,325.46 and a high of 4,439.13 on turnover of NT$42.63 billion (US$1.29 billion).
The market opened 1.71 percent lower, extending Tuesday’s slide, as investors witnessed Wall Street’s negative response to disappointing US home sales data, dealers said.
However, Taipei managed to stage a rebound afterwards as bargain hunters took advantage of cheap valuations following recent losses, they said.
President Securities (統一證券) analyst Steven Huang said market confidence remained fragile, with concerns over the deteriorating global economy.
“We are still in a bear market. So, I did not see many investors were willing to jump into the trading floor today,” Huang said, referring to the thin daily turnover, compared with Tuesday’s NT$51.18 billion.
ProMOS to sell equipment
ProMOS Technologies Inc (茂德科技), the nation’s third-largest computer memory chipmaker, planned to sell a batch of equipment to local chip tester Powertech Technology Inc (力成科技) for NT$1.1 billion to pay back debts, according to a company filing to the Taiwan Stock Exchange.
The struggling computer memory chipmaker said yesterday that the deal could result in about NT$270 million in losses.
The proceedings will be used to pay back debt, it said.
Powertech offers chip-testing services to local computer memory chipmakers, including ProMOS.
In contrast to huge losses incurred by its customers, Powertech’s net income rose nearly 13 percent in the first three quarters to NT$4.93 billion from a year ago.
Dell to unveil two laptops
Dell Inc, the world’s second-largest computer maker after Hewlett-Packard Co, plans to introduce its Inspiron Mini 9 and Mini 12 laptops to the local market next year, but will not go head-to-head with the top two local notebook PC makers, Acer Inc and Asustek Computer Inc (華碩電腦), who take up more than 60 percent of market share.
Dell Taiwan president Terence Liao (廖仁祥) on Tuesday told the Chinese-language Apple Daily that Dell notebook PC sales in the Asia-Pacific market, notably Japan, China and India, surged by 113 percent last quarter from a year earlier, after the Texas-based company switched from direct sales to retail distribution.
Despite the local business notebook PC market suffering a 12 percent decline in the first three quarters, Dell had been able to buck the trend and register 27 percent growth, Liao said, adding that he was optimistic about Dell’s sales this quarter.
Lih Pao signs casino MOU
Lih Pao Construction Co (麗寶建設) said on Tuesday that it signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) with Australian gaming group Crown Ltd to establish a casino at the Lih Pao-affiliated Yamay Recreation World (月眉育樂世界) in Taichung County, with total investment exceeding NT$10 billion (US$302.6 million).
The project, which includes a recreation facility, theme hotel and racecourse for horses, is expected to create 10,000 jobs.
The hotel is scheduled to begin construction early next year, and will start operating by mid-2010, according to the Chinese-language Economic Daily News.
NT dollar gains ground
The New Taiwan dollar gained against the US dollar on the Taipei Foreign Exchange yesterday, rising NT$0.040 to close at NT$33.045. Turnover was US$810 million.
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