Shares rise on extended buying
Taiwanese shares closed up 1.04 percent yesterday on extended buying after Wall Street posted gains for the fourth consecutive day, dealers said.
The TAIEX index rose 70.69 points to 6,850.99 on turnover of NT$133.07 billion (US$4.04 billion). Gainers led losers 1,554 to 735 with 190 stocks unchanged.
The market opened up 1.06 percent as investors took the lead from further gains on Wall Street overnight, helping the index breach the 6,800 point mark, dealers said.
“The better than expected Intel quarterly results continued to weigh in the local bourse,” Grand Cathay Securities (大華證券) analyst Mars Hsu said.
“Encouraged by a stronger NASDAQ, investors here seemed to have turned upbeat about the outlook of the global high tech sector for the third quarter,” Hsu said. “But, the room for further upside is limited as the index moves closer to the stiff resistance at around the key 7,000 point level.”
CPC to cut fuel prices
State-owned oil refiner CPC Corp, Taiwan (CPC, 台灣中油) and its private rival Formosa Petrochemical Corp (台塑石化) said yesterday they would cut prices of gasoline and diesel products by NT$0.4 and NT$0.5 per liter respectively. The new prices took effect last night for Formosa, and today for CPC.
After the adjustment, CPC’s price for a liter of 98-octane unleaded gasoline is NT$29.2. The price of 95-octane unleaded gasoline is NT$27.7 and 92-octane unleaded gasoline is NT$27.0 per liter. Diesel is NT$24.3 per liter.
Taipower orders CSBC vessels
CSBC Corp, Taiwan (CSBC, 台灣國際造船), the nation’s largest ship builder, obtained another government order yesterday. State-run Taiwan Power Co (Taipower, 台電) placed an order for four 93,300 TEU (twenty-foot equivalent unit) coal transporting container vessels valued at NT$6 billion.
Combined with last week’s NT$3.2 billion order for two 40,000 TEU oil tankers from CPC Corp, Taiwan (台灣中油), CSBC has secured a total of NT$9.2 billion from the two state firms so far this year. Both orders are expected to deliver in 2011.
Wistron plans China investment
Local contract notebook maker Wistron Corp (緯創) plans to invest US$100 million into Wistron InfoComm (Taizhou) Co (緯創資通泰州) in China over the next three years in expectation of strong expansion in the notebook market.
The company’s board also approved a reduction in dividend payout from NT$1,080 to NT$982.8 per 1,000 common shares and a stock distribution decrease from 108 shares to 98.28 shares per 1,000 common shares. The ex-dividend date for Wistron stock is Aug. 4.
Chinese firms buy Taiwanese
Visiting Chinese retailers placed orders for US$146 million of goods from Taiwan this week, the Taiwan External Trade Development Council (TAITRA, 外貿協會) said in a statement yesterday.
The Chinese companies will spend an additional US$600 million in Taiwan in the next year, TAITRA chairman Wang Chih-kang (王志剛) said yesterday. Chinese representatives arrived last Sunday to meet suppliers.
Hefei Department Store Group Co (合肥百貨) signed a supply agreement with Uni-President Enterprises Corp (統一企業), said the Association of Trade and Economic Exchange Across the Taiwan Straits, which leads the Chinese trade group.
NT dollar edges up
The New Taiwan dollar gained ground against the US dollar on the Taipei Foreign Exchange yesterday, edging up NT$0.004 to close at NT$32.955. Turnover was US$544 million.
Intel Corp chief executive officer Lip-Bu Tan (陳立武) is expected to meet with Taiwanese suppliers next month in conjunction with the opening of the Computex Taipei trade show, supply chain sources said on Monday. The visit, the first for Tan to Taiwan since assuming his new post last month, would be aimed at enhancing Intel’s ties with suppliers in Taiwan as he attempts to help turn around the struggling US chipmaker, the sources said. Tan is to hold a banquet to celebrate Intel’s 40-year presence in Taiwan before Computex opens on May 20 and invite dozens of Taiwanese suppliers to exchange views
Application-specific integrated circuit designer Faraday Technology Corp (智原) yesterday said that although revenue this quarter would decline 30 percent from last quarter, it retained its full-year forecast of revenue growth of 100 percent. The company attributed the quarterly drop to a slowdown in customers’ production of chips using Faraday’s advanced packaging technology. The company is still confident about its revenue growth this year, given its strong “design-win” — or the projects it won to help customers design their chips, Faraday president Steve Wang (王國雍) told an online earnings conference. “The design-win this year is better than we expected. We believe we will win
Quanta Computer Inc (廣達) chairman Barry Lam (林百里) is expected to share his views about the artificial intelligence (AI) industry’s prospects during his speech at the company’s 37th anniversary ceremony, as AI servers have become a new growth engine for the equipment manufacturing service provider. Lam’s speech is much anticipated, as Quanta has risen as one of the world’s major AI server suppliers. The company reported a 30 percent year-on-year growth in consolidated revenue to NT$1.41 trillion (US$43.35 billion) last year, thanks to fast-growing demand for servers, especially those with AI capabilities. The company told investors in November last year that
Power supply and electronic components maker Delta Electronics Inc (台達電) yesterday said it plans to ship its new 1 megawatt charging systems for electric trucks and buses in the first half of next year at the earliest. The new charging piles, which deliver up to 1 megawatt of charging power, are designed for heavy-duty electric vehicles, and support a maximum current of 1,500 amperes and output of 1,250 volts, Delta said in a news release. “If everything goes smoothly, we could begin shipping those new charging systems as early as in the first half of next year,” a company official said. The new
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