Share prices rise
Taiwan’s share prices rose 0.92 percent yesterday after Wall Street climbed for a fifth day on better-than-expected quarterly financial reports from chipmaker Intel Corp and other companies.
The TAIEX index gained 74.81 to close at 8,171.94, the biggest advance since April 1.
The local bourse opened at 8,168.11 and fluctuated between 8,136.32 and 8,190.01 during the day’s trading. Market turnover totaled NT$142.55 billion (US$4.54 billion).
Gainers outnumbered losers 2,130 to 1,084, with 332 remaining unchanged.
Foreign investors and Chinese qualified domestic institutional investors were net buyers of NT$10.08 billion in shares. They have been net buyers for 13 consecutive trading days.
The TAIEX is expected to gain growth momentum on hopes that the NT dollar will appreciate further and a proposed economic cooperation framework agreement (ECFA) between Taiwan and China will be signed next month or in June, said Chu Yu-chih, an analyst with Grand Cathay Securities Corp (大華證券).
Chu predicted selling pressure after the TAIEX broke the 8,100 mark, but said that after a correction it may rise to between 8,300 and 8,500.
Wind power set for boost
Taiwan aims to boost its wind-power capacity eightfold in the next 20 years to help reduce carbon emissions.
The government has set a target to increase installed wind power capacity to 3,150 megawatts by 2030 up from the current 372 megawatts, the Ministry of Economic Affairs said on its Web site yesterday. One megawatt is enough to supply about 800 US homes.
State-run Taiwan Power Co (Taipower, 台電) has 106 wind turbines in operation, compared with 90 run by private companies, the ministry said.
Wind turbines accounted for 0.6 percent of Taiwan’s electricity production in February, 42 percent was produced by coal-fired generators and 18 percent by plants running on natural gas, Taipower said on its Web site.
Macronix quiet on ProMOS
Macronix International Co (旺宏電子), Taiwan’s biggest maker of NOR flash-memory chips, declined to comment on a Digitimes report that said it plans to buy a factory from ProMOS Technologies Inc (茂德科技).
Michelle Chang (張宜如), a spokeswoman for the firm, declined to comment yesterday on the report that said Macronix will pay as much as NT$9 billion for a factory from ProMOS.
Chang did say that Macronix is planning to acquire a facility that uses 12-inch silicon wafers to expand capacity and may buy an 8-inch plant in coming years. Any purchase will probably be funded from its approximately NT$25 billion (US$797 million) in cash reserves, she said.
WiMAX up and running
Vee TIME Corp (威達雲端電訊) yesterday launched its high-speed 4G, or WiMAX, services in Taichung and said it aimed to have 100,000 subscribers in the first year of commercial operation.
Vee TIME also hopes to generate NT$1.5 billion (US$47.8 million) in revenues this year.
The company plans to spend more than NT$1 billion on network deployment this year.
CMC to raise prices
CMC Magnetics Corp (中環), the world’s biggest maker of recordable discs used in DVD players, will raise the prices of its recordable compact discs by 10 percent in the second quarter, Annie Yang (楊佳宛), CMC’s deputy spokeswoman, said in a telephone interview in Taipei yesterday.
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