Stocks rose, led by the nation's biggest companies such as Quanta Computer Inc (
The TAIEX rose 54.66, or 1.3 percent, to 4,271.30. It dropped as much as 0.8 percent in early trading after the World Health Organization said travelers should avoid the country to contain the spread of SARS.
There were expectations that government-related funds and major shareholders might lend support to the bourse.
"Government funds appeared to be in the market to keep the index from falling," said Hebbe Lin, who manages US$20 million in assets at International Investment Trust Co (
"Recent feeble trading volume made it easier to manipulate the market," Lin said.
The government can intervene in the stock market through four government funds: the Labor Retirement Fund, the Postal Savings Fund, the Civil Servant Pension Fund and the Labor Insurance Fund.
The value of trading slowed to NT$23.7 billion (US$683 million) on Monday, its lowest since October 2001. About NT$38.6 billion in shares changed hands yester-day, 17 percent lower than the average daily volume in the past three months.
Asustek, the world's largest maker of boards that connect the chips in personal computers, climbed NT$2.5, or 3.5 percent, to NT$74.
Quanta, the nation's largest notebook computer maker, rose NT1.50, or 2.4 percent, to NT$65.
Hon Hai Precision Industry Co (鴻海精密) rose NT$1, or 0.9 percent, to NT$112.50. Hon Hai on Wednesday announced to invest NT$35 billion in its first flat-panel display plant, Innolux Display Corp (群創光電), for cellphones, personal computers and other products, the company told the Taipei Times on condition of anonymity.
Innolux hopes to become the world's biggest supplier of flat-panel screens for mobile phones by 2006, the company said.
Quanta Display Inc (
Quanta Display said it plans to sell 1 billion new shares to domestic and overseas investors. The sale would raise NT$10.75 billion based on Quanta Display's closing share price on Wednesday. Quanta Display is a flat-panel display venture owned by Japan's Sharp Corp and Quanta.
WEAKER ACTIVITY: The sharpest deterioration was seen in the electronics and optical components sector, with the production index falling 13.2 points to 44.5 Taiwan’s manufacturing sector last month contracted for a second consecutive month, with the purchasing managers’ index (PMI) slipping to 48, reflecting ongoing caution over trade uncertainties, the Chung-Hua Institution for Economic Research (CIER, 中華經濟研究院) said yesterday. The decline reflects growing caution among companies amid uncertainty surrounding US tariffs, semiconductor duties and automotive import levies, and it is also likely linked to fading front-loading activity, CIER president Lien Hsien-ming (連賢明) said. “Some clients have started shifting orders to Southeast Asian countries where tariff regimes are already clear,” Lien told a news conference. Firms across the supply chain are also lowering stock levels to mitigate
Six Taiwanese companies, including contract chipmaker Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電), made the 2025 Fortune Global 500 list of the world’s largest firms by revenue. In a report published by New York-based Fortune magazine on Tuesday, Hon Hai Precision Industry Co (鴻海精密), also known as Foxconn Technology Group (富士康科技集團), ranked highest among Taiwanese firms, placing 28th with revenue of US$213.69 billion. Up 60 spots from last year, TSMC rose to No. 126 with US$90.16 billion in revenue, followed by Quanta Computer Inc (廣達) at 348th, Pegatron Corp (和碩) at 461st, CPC Corp, Taiwan (台灣中油) at 494th and Wistron Corp (緯創) at
NEW PRODUCTS: MediaTek plans to roll out new products this quarter, including a flagship mobile phone chip and a GB10 chip that it is codeveloping with Nvidia Corp MediaTek Inc (聯發科) yesterday projected that revenue this quarter would dip by 7 to 13 percent to between NT$130.1 billion and NT$140 billion (US$4.38 billion and US$4.71 billion), compared with NT$150.37 billion last quarter, which it attributed to subdued front-loading demand and unfavorable foreign exchange rates. The Hsinchu-based chip designer said that the forecast factored in the negative effects of an estimated 6 percent appreciation of the New Taiwan dollar against the greenback. “As some demand has been pulled into the first half of the year and resulted in a different quarterly pattern, we expect the third quarter revenue to decline sequentially,”
ASE Technology Holding Co (ASE, 日月光投控), the world’s biggest chip assembly and testing service provider, yesterday said it would boost equipment capital expenditure by up to 16 percent for this year to cope with strong customer demand for artificial intelligence (AI) applications. Aside from AI, a growing demand for semiconductors used in the automotive and industrial sectors is to drive ASE’s capacity next year, the Kaohsiung-based company said. “We do see the disparity between AI and other general sectors, and that pretty much aligns the scenario in the first half of this year,” ASE chief operating officer Tien Wu (吳田玉) told an
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