Banking and insurance stocks rose, led by Cathay Life Insurance Ltd (國泰人壽), as investors their earnings will get a boost from property sales after the government proposed cutting by half capital gains tax on property profits for two years.
Leaving the broad market mixed, Hon Hai Precision Industry Ltd (
Hon Hai's "margins are dropping because of market erosion in their contract manufacturing business and PC connector business," said Alison Yip, an analyst at CLSA Global Emerging Markets in Taiwan.
"In the third quarter, their pretax margins will continue to drop," she said.
The TWSE Index rose 5.58, or 0.1 percent, to 4,509.44. The index gained 4.6 percent in the week. Within the index, 317 stocks fell and 143 rose.
The total value of stocks traded today was NT$51.82 billion (US$1.50 billion), 28 percent less than this year's daily average of NT$72.44 billion.
Banks and insurers rose after the government proposed cutting by half the capital gains on land sales for two years. It need legislative approval to become law.
The Taiwan Stock Exchange's Bank and Insurance Index rose 1.9 percent, completing a 13 percent gain this week.
Cathay Life Insurance, which has more than 90 commercial buildings and 90 big plots of land, rose NT$1.80, or 4.6 percent, to NT$41.10.
China Development Industrial Bank (中華開發銀行) gained NT$0.40, or 1.7 percent, to NT$23.80.
Shin Kong Life Insurance Ltd (新光人壽) rose NT$1.50, or 6.6 percent, to NT$24.30.
Hon Hai Precision, which makes everything in a computer except chips, plunged NT$10, or 7 percent, to NT$133.50. The company's net income in the three months to June was little changed from a year ago at NT$2.3 billion.
Five analysts surveyed by Bloomberg News expected profit to rise to NT$3.1 billion. Hon Hai's customers include Dell Computer Corp.
Memory chipmakers slid after the spot price for their main
product fell to less than a tenth of what it was a year ago, according to DRAM Exchange, a market place for memory chips.
The spot price for the 64-megabit dynamic random access memory chip is at US$0.75, down from about US$9 a year ago.
Mosel Vitelic Inc (
Asustek Computer Inc (
Hua Nan Commercial Bank (
Quanta Computer Inc (
Via Technologies Inc (
The company also has no license from Intel Corp to sell the quicker Pentium-4 based chipsets, while rivals Silicon Integrated Systems Corp (
ROLLER-COASTER RIDE: More than five earthquakes ranging from magnitude 4.4 to 5.5 on the Richter scale shook eastern Taiwan in rapid succession yesterday afternoon Back-to-back weather fronts are forecast to hit Taiwan this week, resulting in rain across the nation in the coming days, the Central Weather Administration said yesterday, as it also warned residents in mountainous regions to be wary of landslides and rockfalls. As the first front approached, sporadic rainfall began in central and northern parts of Taiwan yesterday, the agency said, adding that rain is forecast to intensify in those regions today, while brief showers would also affect other parts of the nation. A second weather system is forecast to arrive on Thursday, bringing additional rain to the whole nation until Sunday, it
LANDSLIDES POSSIBLE: The agency advised the public to avoid visiting mountainous regions due to more expected aftershocks and rainfall from a series of weather fronts A series of earthquakes over the past few days were likely aftershocks of the April 3 earthquake in Hualien County, with further aftershocks to be expected for up to a year, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said yesterday. Based on the nation’s experience after the quake on Sept. 21, 1999, more aftershocks are possible over the next six months to a year, the agency said. A total of 103 earthquakes of magnitude 4 on the local magnitude scale or higher hit Hualien County from 5:08pm on Monday to 10:27am yesterday, with 27 of them exceeding magnitude 5. They included two, of magnitude
CONDITIONAL: The PRC imposes secret requirements that the funding it provides cannot be spent in states with diplomatic relations with Taiwan, Emma Reilly said China has been bribing UN officials to obtain “special benefits” and to block funding from countries that have diplomatic ties with Taiwan, a former UN employee told the British House of Commons on Tuesday. At a House of Commons Foreign Affairs Committee hearing into “international relations within the multilateral system,” former Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) employee Emma Reilly said in a written statement that “Beijing paid bribes to the two successive Presidents of the [UN] General Assembly” during the two-year negotiation of the Sustainable Development Goals. Another way China exercises influence within the UN Secretariat is
Taiwan’s first drag queen to compete on the internationally acclaimed RuPaul’s Drag Race, Nymphia Wind (妮妃雅), was on Friday crowned the “Next Drag Superstar.” Dressed in a sparkling banana dress, Nymphia Wind swept onto the stage for the final, and stole the show. “Taiwan this is for you,” she said right after show host RuPaul announced her as the winner. “To those who feel like they don’t belong, just remember to live fearlessly and to live their truth,” she said on stage. One of the frontrunners for the past 15 episodes, the 28-year-old breezed through to the final after weeks of showcasing her unique