Game parts keep stocks level
Shares ended flat yesterday, with gains from medium-sized game component makers offsetting declines among semiconductor manufacturers.
The TAIEX fell 0.94 points, or 0.01 percent, to 6271.20. Traders said foreign investors appeared to be less active in the market due to the start of the summer holidays.
"Foreign investors perhaps are cooling down their activity as the summer vacation sets in," Barits International Securities (倍利證券) assistant vice president Alex Huang said.
Shares of several mid-cap companies rose strongly yesterday.
Game console maker Wistron Corp (緯創資通) advanced 3.3 percent to close at NT$26.75, while Cheng Uei Precision Industry Co (正崴精密) added 2.9 percent to NT$96.20. Both companies benefited from expectations of strong orders ahead of the peak year-end sales season for game machines.
Handset component maker High Tech Computer Corp (宏達電子) gained 4.1 percent to close at NT$295.50, and Compal Communications Inc (華寶通訊) rose 3.4 percent to end at NT$93.20.
"As [handset makers] Nokia and Motorola move away from low-end models, [Taiwan's] original equipment manufacturers are set to gain the orders," Huang said.
Chang Hwa wrapping up sale
Chang Hwa Commercial Bank (彰化銀行), the nation's sixth-largest lender by assets, plans to complete its sale of NT$25.2 billion (US$793 million) of preferred stock by the end of this month, after receiving bids from domestic and foreign investors.
"We hope to complete the deal as soon as possible, at least no later than the end of July," Chang Hwa executive vice president Hsieh Chao-nan (謝昭南) said yesterday. "We have received bids from several investors."
Hsieh refused to identify bidders, citing confidentiality.
Chang Hwa's board approved a plan on June 24 to sell 1.4 billion new shares at NT$17.98 each in a private placement, pending approval by shareholders and regulators, Chang Hwa said in a filing to the Taiwan Stock Exchange.
IT standards discussed
Chinese and Taiwanese industry groups will start a two-day seminar in Beijing today to discuss setting up joint technology standards for digital televisions, cellphones, flat-panel display testing and memory cards.
Taiwan's delegation, including more than 40 industry executives, will be led by opposition Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Vice Chairman Chiang Pin-kung (江丙坤) and Rock Hsu (許勝雄), chairman of the Taiwan Electrical and Electronic Manufacturers' Association (電電公會), the Sinocon Industrial Standards Foundation (華聚產業共同標準協會) said in a statement.
Chiang is chairman of the foundation; Hsu is vice chairman.
"The aim is to open a window for dialogue for cross-strait science and technology industry," the foundation said in a statement.
Ting Hsin eyes PRC crackers
Ting Hsin International Group (頂新集團) may form a venture with Japan's Kameda Seika Co to expand into China's rice cracker market, a Chinese-language newspaper reported, without saying where it obtained the information.
Kameda Seika may provide manufacturing technology and Ting Hsin may help sell the products in China, the newspaper said.
Ting Hsin owns one-third of China's biggest instant-noodle maker. Kameda Seika produces and sells rice cookies, snacks and Japanese sweets.
NT dollar declines
The New Taiwan dollar traded lower against its US counterpart yesterday, declining NT$0.110 to close at NT$31.797 on the Taipei foreign exchange market.
Turnover was US$713 million.
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