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Shares gain on Wall Street rally

Share prices closed 1.78 percent higher yesterday after Wall Street posted its eighth straight day of gains, dealers said.

The TAIEX rose 119.11 points to 6,809.86 on turnover of NT$91.83 billion (US$2.79 billion).

Buying focused on large cap electronic stocks, financials and tourism after they had appeared oversold as swine flue fears spread and the government faced heavy criticism for its slow response to Typhoon Morakot, they said.

“While the local bourse hailed the gains on US markets, sentiment remains cautious,” Concord Securities (康和證券) analyst Allen Lin said, referring to the relatively thin daily turnover.

Lin said consolidation still dominated the broader market.

Chunghwa to sell new iPhone

Chunghwa Telecom Co (中華電信), the nation’s biggest telecom operator, expects to sell 4,000 units of Apple Inc’s new iPhone, dubbed iPhone 3GS, because consumers placed orders one-and-a-half months ago, a company executive said yesterday.

The company is scheduled to offer the new-generation iPhone in the second week of next month, company spokesman Shih Mu-piao (石木標) said by telephone.

Chunghwa Telecom is the only phone company in Taiwan selling Apple’s handsets.

Last month the company said it expected sales of the iPhone 3GS could exceed 50,000 units within three months of the launch.

Fuel prices going up

Domestic gasoline and diesel prices will both increase by NT$0.3 per liter today although price cuts will be made to typhoon-hit areas, state-owned CPC Corp, Taiwan (CPC, 台灣中油) said yesterday.

In the north, CPC’s price for a liter of 98-octane unleaded gasoline will be NT$31.2, the price of 95-octane unleaded gasoline will be NT$29.7 and 92-octane unleaded gasoline will cost NT$29. Diesel will be priced at NT$26.5 per liter.

For areas moderately affected by the typhoon, 98-octane unleaded gasoline will cost NT$29.7 per liters, 95-octane unleaded gasoline will be NT$29.3 and 92-octane unleaded gasoline will cost NT$28.6. Diesel will be priced at NT$26 per liter.

In Kaohsiung, Pingtung, Nantou, Chiayi and Taitung counties, 98-octane unleaded gasoline will cost NT$28.7, while 95-octane unleaded gasoline will be NT$27.2 and 92-octane unleaded gasoline will cost NT$26.5.

Diesel will be priced at NT$25 per liter.

Ministry reveals funding plan

The Ministry of Finance said yesterday it had drafted a plan to improve the nation’s finances by generating incomes or saving expenditure of up to NT$1 trillion over eight years.

“If put into practice, the plan can provide 25 percent of the funding required of the I-Taiwan 12 Projects,” Deputy Minister of Finance Chang Sheng-ford (張盛和) said, adding it would take NT$3.99 trillion to carry out the 12 projects the president had pledged on his campaign trail last year.

The plan’s details and timetable for implementation, however, are yet to be finalized, Chang said.

Nan Ya posts loss

Nan Ya Plastics Corp (南亞塑膠), the world’s largest processor of plastics for pipes and imitation leather, said first-half net income fell to NT$2.11 billion, or NT$0.27 a share, from NT$18.8 billion a year earlier, or NT$2.4, the company said in an e-mailed statement.

NT dollar weakens

The New Taiwan dollar yesterday slightly weakened by NT$0.009 to close at NT$32.925 against the greenback on turnover of US$759 million in Taipei trading.
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