TAIEX falls short on caution
The benchmark index fell into consolidation mode yesterday, moving in ranged trade after a rally in the previous session as sentiment turned cautious about a possible major pullback, dealers said.
While interest in the bellwether electronics sector faded to some extent after the strong showing a day earlier, traditional industrial stocks attracted rotational buying to keep the broader market above 8,717.14 points, they said.
The TAIEX closed up 10.97 points, or 0.13 percent, at 8,717.14, after moving between 8,683.05 and 8,725.97, on turnover of NT$126.45 billion (US$4.36 billion).
Pegatron rallies on Apple news
Shares of contract PC maker Pegatron Corp (和碩) staged a rally yesterday on local media reports that the company has just secured large orders from Apple Inc to produce iPads and iPhones, dealers said.
The orders taken by Pegatron were the result of Apple’s intention to shift part of its orders from Hon Hai Precision Industry Co (鴻海精密), the world’s largest contract electronics producer, in a bid to broaden its supply chain, the report said.
Shares of Pegatron rose 2.65 percent to close at NT$34.8 on the Taiwan Stock Exchange, while those of Hon Hai fell 0.97 percent to NT$92.3.
Cathay, Fuh Hwa get QFII status
Cathay Securities Investment Trust Co (國泰投信) and Fuh Hwa Securities Investment Trust Co (復華投信) will be allowed to invest directly in China’s yuan-denominated A-shares after they were granted licenses under China’s Qualified Foreign Institutional Investor (QFII) program last month, Dow Jones Newswires reported yesterday, citing the China Securities Regulatory Commission.
Also receiving a license was France’s Comgest SA, bringing the total number of QFIIs to 113, the report said.
The two companies now need the Chinese State Administration of Foreign Exchange to approve an investment quota before they can start trading in Chinese securities.
New HTC handset has Weibo
HTC Corp (宏達電) introduced a new handset integrating Sina Corp’s (新浪) Twitter-like Weibo (微博) microblogging service, the Taoyuan-based company said in an e-mailed statement yesterday.
HTC Weike includes a button with the Weibo logo on the front that automatically connects users to the blogging service, it said. Weibo had 140 million users as of May and aims to expand to 200 million by the end of the year, Sina chief executive officer Charles Chao (趙廣民) said in May.
Far EasTone offers diabetics help
Far EasTone Telecommunications Co (遠傳電信), the nation’s No. 3 telecoms carrier, launched a cloud-based medical service on Wednesday, aiming to gain a bigger foothold in the domestic market.
Far EasTone announced it had been working with five local hospitals to build a cloud-based platform for mobile healthcare services that enables diabetics to check their blood sugar through smartphones with mobile broadband connectivity and receive online diagnosis from the hospitals.
According to Far EasTone, there are 1.4 million diabetics in the country, 20 percent of whom have severe cases. The company plans to attract 50,000 to 60,000 of these severe diabetics to subscribe to the service, which, for a monthly fee, will provide them with more instant medical care.
NT dollar falls NT$0.02
The New Taiwan dollar fell against the US currency yesterday, down NT$0.02 to close at NT$28.890. Turnover totaled US$649 million during the trading session, down from US$900 million in the previous session.
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