Shares down 0.03 percent
Shares closed flat yesterday after late selling in the financial sector eroded early gains, dealers said.
The weighted index fell 1.24 points or 0.03 percent to 4,591.26, off a low of 4,575.98 and a high of 4,607.97, on turnover of NT$72.40 billion (US$2.12 billion).
Gainers led losers by 802 to 790 with 197 stocks unchanged.
The market opened up 0.29 percent on continued buying in large cap high tech stocks but profit taking emerged as the index moved closer to the 4,600 to 4,700 point area of resistance after recent significant gains, dealers said.
The selling focused on financial stocks amid fears that banks would suffer from a rise in bad loans amid deteriorating economic conditions, they said.
Quanta expects lower shipments
Quanta Computer Inc (廣達電腦), the world’s largest maker of notebook computers, said shipments this quarter would fall more than usual because of the economic slowdown.
Shipments would decline more than 30 percent this quarter and may be less than 7 million units, from 10.1 million in the fourth quarter, Carol Hsu (許昭瑾), a spokeswoman for the Taoyuan-based company, said by telephone yesterday. Quanta’s laptop shipments typically decline between 20 percent and 25 percent in the period as industry growth slows after the peak year-end shopping season, she said.
Quanta’s order visibility has been reduced to four weeks from the usual six to eight weeks, she said. The company hasn’t published a full-year forecast and maintains its estimate of expanding “in line” with the industry this year, she said.
Gamania seeks to expand
Gamania Digital Entertainment Co (遊戲橘子) has ambitious plans for this year. Having experienced 48 percent and 57 percent year-over-year sales growths in Hong Kong and Japan markets last year, the Taipei-based company wants to expand into US and European markets this year, a company official said.
Gamania chief executive officer and chairman Albert Liu (劉柏園) announced on Friday that Gamania would partner with Cartoon Network, a Time Warner Co subsidiary, to broadcast its proprietary cartoon titled Hero 108 in the US and the UK, as well as selling rights for games and merchandise.
In addition, the company would seek to return to China this year through two or three new games, Liu said.
Gamania expects to publish and distribute a total of 10 titles locally this year. Three Web games, five casual and massive multiplayer online role-playing games as well as other surprises are in the pipeline, Liu said.
Transit in HK plummets
The number of Taiwanese making transit stops in Hong Kong this year is forecast to plummet as a result of the historic opening of direct air and sea links across the Taiwan Strait, the Hong Kong Tourism Board said yesterday.
Against the backdrop of the opening on Dec. 15 of direct air and shipping links between Taiwan and China, the number of Taiwanese transiting in Hong Kong is expected to shrink by 33 percent — or 527,000 person-visits this year — from the 1.591 million posted last year to 1.064 million, the board said.
The board also predicted that arrivals by South Korean visitors in Hong Kong this year would decline 15 percent, or 136,000 person-visits year-on-year, to some 768,000.
Board officials attributed this mainly to a plunge in value of the South Korean won by about 30 percent over the last few months.
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