Jitters drive TAIEX lower
The TAIEX fell 2.39 percent yesterday as forthcoming corporate earnings reports made investors jittery, analysts said.
The weighted index dropped 133.29 points to 5,443.56 on turnover of NT$150.27 billion (US$4.44 billion).
Losers outnumbered gainers 1,414 to 681, while 118 stocks remained unchanged.
“Investors were concerned about corporate earnings reports being released this month, given the global economic recession,” Chen Yu-yu (陳育娛) of Capital Securities (群益證券) said. “Selling pressure was very high, as expected, as the market encountered a barrier in the 5,600 to 5,800 points range,” Chen said.
Consolidation may take three to four weeks and the market should find its level between 5,200 and 5,300 points, he said.
Mobile sales expected to fall
Taiwanese mobile phone sales were forecast to fall 9.3 percent this year because of weakened replacement demand and an extended replacement cycle, an industry report said yesterday.
Sales were estimated at 6.39 million units by the Market Intelligence and Consulting Institute (產業情報研究所), which called this year crucial for Taiwanese mobile phone operators in terms of grabbing a bigger share of the mobile Internet market.
“Overall, as the global economy is projected to be locked in a downturn in 2009, consumer confidence is expected to be even weaker in the year ahead,” the report said. “As a result, it is expected that there will be keen price war in mobile phone sales channels and mobile operators will lower Internet access rates for their data cards to stimulate demand.”
Judy Tu offers to resign
Yuanta Securities Corp (元大證券) chairwoman Judy Tu (杜麗莊) offered to resign from her post yesterday, less than a week after prosecutors sought a jail term of 10 years each for her and her husband Rudy Ma (馬志玲), the founder of Yuanta Group (元大集團).
The Financial Supervisory Commission has asked Yuanta Financial Holding Co (元大金控) to discipline any of its top management that are indicted by prosecutors.
Chinatrust reports lower income
Chinatrust Financial Holding Co (中信金控), the owner of the nation’s largest credit card issuer, reported a 31 percent drop in unaudited first-quarter net income.
Profits declined to NT$3.4 billion (US$100 million), or NT$0.35 a share, the Taipei-based company said in a filing to the stock exchange yesterday. Net income was NT$4.9 billion a year earlier.
The Taipei-based firm is the parent company of Chinatrust Commercial Bank (中國信託商銀). The lender’s first-quarter profits fell to NT$2.7 billion, or NT$0.37 a share, it said in a separate filing.
First-quarter net income was NT$4.7 billion a year earlier.
UMC sales better than expected
United Microelectronics Corp (UMC, 聯電) yesterday reported better-than-expected sales last month of NT$4.54 billion (US$134 million), up 44.45 percent from NT$3.14 billion in February.
Credit Suisse had predicted UMC would post a 35 percent month-on-month increase.
In the first three months, UMC has made NT$10.84 billion in revenues, down 54.85 percent from the NT$24 billion in revenues during the first quarter of last year.
Elan files suit against Apple
Elan Microelectronics Corp (義隆電子) has filed a patent infringement suit against Apple Inc in a US court, the Hsinchu-based company said in an exchange filing yesterday.
The patents are used in Apple’s Macbook, iPhone and iPod touch products, the statement said.
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