■ TAIEX falls on political concerns
Share prices closed 1.52 percent lower yesterday, extending losses on concerns at President Chen Shui-bian's (陳水扁) stand on China and after Wall Street's downturn, dealers said. The TAIEX lost 100.81 points at 6,530.70, on turnover of NT$95.72 billion (US$2.95 billion). Decliners led risers 960 to 113, with 87 stocks unchanged. "In our house, there were far more sell than buy orders," said Oliver Fang, Yuanta Core Pacific Securities (元大京華證券) assistant vice president. "There was a conspicuous increase in short [sell] contracts, reflecting a desire to hedge against the prospect of a further decline ... in the near-term." Semiconductor and LCD-panel makers led the technology sector lower, with Nanya Technology Corp (南亞科技) falling NT$0.50 to NT$20.10, AU Optronics Corp (友達) down NT$1.80 to NT$52.90, Chi Mei Optoelectronics Corp (奇美) off NT$2.30 to NT$48.80 and Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (台積電) down NT$0.20 at NT$61.90.
■ JPMorgan settles transactions
JPMorgan Chase & Co, the third-biggest US bank, said it has become the first overseas company to help settle futures transactions in the Taiwan Futures Exchange. The company has started functioning as a clearing-house member of the exchange, Jonathan Glass, managing director and head of futures and options in Asia at JPMorgan, said yesterday.
"We are confident that foreign investor participation in Taiwan's futures and options market will reach the levels of other mature Asian markets as the local environment continues to improve," Glass said in a statement. JPMorgan joined the futures exchange in December 2004, the first foreign broker to do so.
■ DRAM makers raise prices
Computer memory chipmakers raised prices of the product by an average of 10 percent because of a shortage, Dramexchange.com said, without citing sources. The contract price boost for the so-called DDR2 type of dynamic random access memory for the second half of the month follows an increase at the beginning of the month, Taiwan-based Dramexchange, Asia's biggest spot market for chips, said in a note to clients late yesterday. Most computer memory chipmakers are "bullish" on prices for next month because of a supply shortage, according to the report.
■ Semiconductor factory use rises
Global semiconductor companies raised their factory use for a third straight quarter as demand rose for personal computers, cellphones and other electronic gadgets, according to industry figures. Factory use rose to 91.8 percent in the three months ended Dec. 31, from 90.1 percent in the previous quarter and 86 percent a year ago, according to Netherlands-based Semiconductor International Capacity Statistics, a data-gathering program set up in 1994 by 41 chipmakers. Chipmakers worldwide produced the equivalent of 1.5 million 200mm wafers a week in the fourth quarter, a 5.4 percent gain from the previous period, when production rose 4.5 percent, according to Semiconductor International Capacity Statistics. Maximum production capacity in the second quarter rose 3.5 percent from the previous period to 1.64 million wafers a week. That compares with a 3.3 percent gain in the previous period and a 1.4 percent increase in the second quarter, the report showed.
■ NT dollar continues slide
The New Taiwan dollar continued to lose ground against its US counterpart, declining NT$0.163 to close at NT$32.646 on the Taipei foreign exchange market yesterday. Turnover was US$1.342 billion, up from Tuesday's US$977.
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