Canadian phone-equipment maker Nortel’s sudden bankruptcy filing on Wednesday sent ripples through local contract manufacturers yesterday.
Wistron Co (緯創) released a statement on the Taiwan Stock Exchange yesterday to announce a possible loss of NT$200 million (US$5.99 million), or NT$0.13 per share, related to Nortel Networks Corp’s collapse.
Wistron said it had been in business with Nortel for many years, and it was currently in talks with Nortel to collect due payments.
Since Wistron’s main product focus lies in personal computers, its stock only slid NT$0.70 or 2.85 percent to close at NT$23.85.
Nortel is seeking bankruptcy protection in Canadian, US and UK courts, the company announced on Wednesday. The company also saw revenues drop due to fierce competition in Internet-related equipment and traditional telecom systems.
In Taiwan, several suppliers of telecom components to the company with varying exposures saw their stocks decline yesterday.
Alpha Networks Inc (明泰科技) and Accton Technology Corp (智邦科技), which focus on the manufacturing of wireless adaptors/routers and WiMAX customer premises equipment, dropped NT$0.43 and NT$0.38 yesterday to close at NT$16.05 and NT$7.35, respectively.
While D-Link Corp (友訊科技) isn’t a direct supplier to Nortel, its stock suffered a 6 percent drop on the day to NT$18.90 due to its 38 percent ownership in Alpha Networks.
Hitron Technologies Inc (仲琦科技) closed down limit to NT$6.15.
The US dollar was trading at NT$29.7 at 10am today on the Taipei Foreign Exchange, as the New Taiwan dollar gained NT$1.364 from the previous close last week. The NT dollar continued to rise today, after surging 3.07 percent on Friday. After opening at NT$30.91, the NT dollar gained more than NT$1 in just 15 minutes, briefly passing the NT$30 mark. Before the US Department of the Treasury's semi-annual currency report came out, expectations that the NT dollar would keep rising were already building. The NT dollar on Friday closed at NT$31.064, up by NT$0.953 — a 3.07 percent single-day gain. Today,
‘SHORT TERM’: The local currency would likely remain strong in the near term, driven by anticipated US trade pressure, capital inflows and expectations of a US Fed rate cut The US dollar is expected to fall below NT$30 in the near term, as traders anticipate increased pressure from Washington for Taiwan to allow the New Taiwan dollar to appreciate, Cathay United Bank (國泰世華銀行) chief economist Lin Chi-chao (林啟超) said. Following a sharp drop in the greenback against the NT dollar on Friday, Lin told the Central News Agency that the local currency is likely to remain strong in the short term, driven in part by market psychology surrounding anticipated US policy pressure. On Friday, the US dollar fell NT$0.953, or 3.07 percent, closing at NT$31.064 — its lowest level since Jan.
The New Taiwan dollar and Taiwanese stocks surged on signs that trade tensions between the world’s top two economies might start easing and as US tech earnings boosted the outlook of the nation’s semiconductor exports. The NT dollar strengthened as much as 3.8 percent versus the US dollar to 30.815, the biggest intraday gain since January 2011, closing at NT$31.064. The benchmark TAIEX jumped 2.73 percent to outperform the region’s equity gauges. Outlook for global trade improved after China said it is assessing possible trade talks with the US, providing a boost for the nation’s currency and shares. As the NT dollar
The Financial Supervisory Commission (FSC) yesterday met with some of the nation’s largest insurance companies as a skyrocketing New Taiwan dollar piles pressure on their hundreds of billions of dollars in US bond investments. The commission has asked some life insurance firms, among the biggest Asian holders of US debt, to discuss how the rapidly strengthening NT dollar has impacted their operations, people familiar with the matter said. The meeting took place as the NT dollar jumped as much as 5 percent yesterday, its biggest intraday gain in more than three decades. The local currency surged as exporters rushed to