TAIEX follows Wall Street lower
The TAIEX closed down 0.70 percent yesterday following Wall Street’s overnight fall and in line with weaker regional markets, dealers said.
The index fell 47.08 points to 6,668.14 on turnover of NT$115.69 billion (US$3.51 billion).
Losers led gainers 1,390 to 802, with 148 stocks unchanged.
Buying in the electronics sector, which made up 61 percent of yesterday’s trade, kept the index off its intra-day low of 6,629.83, Taiwan International Securities (金鼎證券) trader Andrew Teng (鄧安瀾) said.
“Funds are flowing to technology stocks, but the percentage needs to reach 70 percent to drive up the main index,” he said.
Buy in S Korea, Taiwan: analysts
Investors should buy South Korean and Taiwanese shares in the second half of the year to benefit from a recovery in developed economies, JPMorgan Chase & Co said.
Technology shares and companies that benefit from consumer spending are preferred, analysts led by Adrian Mowat wrote in a report yesterday.
“The probability of positive economic surprises is high,” they said. “The leverage that can be generated from this lift in developed market growth is now being felt in Asia.”
JPMorgan’s portfolio for Taiwanese stocks included Lite-on Technology Corp (光寶科技), the world’s largest maker of mobile-phone casings, and Wistron Corp (緯創) the world’s third-largest maker of laptop computers.
Quanta sees positive growth
Quanta Computer Inc (廣達) posted a second quarter revenue of NT$170.4 billion (US$5.17 billion), down 14.81 percent from a year ago, but an improvement of 9.23 percent quarter-on-quarter, the company said yesterday.
Last month was the first time this year that the Taoyuan-based firm posted positive year-on-year and month-on-month sales growth of 4.9 percent and 29.7 percent respectively, with sales of NT$65.1 billion.
In addition, the company also reported that last month’s notebook shipments came to 3.3 million units, an increase of 1 million units, or 43.5 percent, compared with May triggered by increased demand.
Meanwhile, Wistron Corp (緯創) showed more volatility in the second quarter compared with its competitor.
For the three months ending last month, Wistron posted sales of NT$126.41 billion, a sharp decline of 28.10 percent from same time last year, but an increase of 18.33 percent from the first quarter.
Lat month, Wistron booked a revenue of NT$48.17 billion, an increase of 40.44 percent and 59.66 percent year-on-year and month-on-month respectively.
Chinatrust profits dip
Chinatrust Financial Holding Co (中信金控) reported a 54 percent decline in second-quarter profit.
Net income dropped to NT$1.83 billion (US$55 million) from NT$3.98 billion a year earlier, according to estimates derived by subtracting first-quarter earnings from first-half results.
The company reported first-half unaudited profit declined to NT$5.23 billion from NT$8.9 billion a year earlier.
Meanwhile, Hua Nan Financial Holding Co (華南金控) posted a 50 percent decline in preliminary first-half net income.
Net profit declined to NT$2.9 billion, or NT$0.48 per share, the company said in an exchange filing yesterday. The company posted a profit of NT$5.8 billion, or NT$0.97 a share, a year ago.
Greenback edges higher
The New Taiwan dollar continued to lose ground against the US dollar yesterday, falling NT$0.047 to close at NT$33.036. A total of US$1.14 billion changed hands.
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