Taiwanese shares rise 1.62%
Taiwanese shares closed 1.62 percent higher yesterday on Wall Street’s overnight gain and signs of improvement in the domestic economy, dealers said.
The TAIEX index rose 114.2 points to finish at 7,142.63 on turnover of NT$153.72 billion (US$4.7 billion). Gainers outnumbered losers 1,886 to 553, while 144 shares remained unchanged.
The market opened high and finished at its highest point of the day despite the pullback factor from the Chinese market, which the Taiwanese market has been following closely in recent months.
“A number of investors were eager to build up their portfolio again after they were surprised that the market did not pull back after breezing past the 7,000-point psychological barrier [on Monday],” said Allen Lin of the Concord Securities (康和證券).
“That was the mentality prevailing in the market today,” he said.
Institutes sign letter of intent
The Institute for Information Industry (資策會) signed a letter of intent with China Electronic Commerce Association yesterday to promote exchanges and jointly expand markets on the world stage.
The institute’s president, Ke Jyh-sheng (柯志昇), inked the agreement with Hung Jing-yi (洪京一), standing director of China Electronic Commerce Association (中國電子商務協會), at the end of a two-day exchange in Taipei.
The government-funded institute also signed letters of intent with Civic Software Engineering Co (中創軟件工程), ISoftSone Information Service Corp (北京軟通信息) and ChinaEcNet Co (中國網信息技術) to set up a platform devoted to facilitating cooperation between bilateral information, communication and technology companies.
SMIC’s loss beats estimate
A company statement said Semiconductor Manufacturing International Corp (SMIC, 中芯) posted a smaller-than-expected loss in the second quarter as a government economic stimulus boosted demand in its home market.
Second-quarter net loss was US$98.2 million compared with a deficit of US$45.63 million a year earlier, it said.
Second-quarter sales fell 22 percent to US$267.4 million from US$342.9 million a year earlier, the company said.
Third-quarter revenue may increase between 14 percent and 18 percent from the previous three months, SMIC said in the statement. Capital spending may range from US$60 million to US$65 million during the three months, it said.
Carmakers reduce production
Japan’s top automakers Toyota, Honda and Nissan said yesterday that they had sharply reduced their global production during the six months to last month in response to a slump in sales.
World No. 1 Toyota Motor said its global production fell 43.1 percent in the first half of the year from a year earlier to 2,539,673 vehicles, excluding those made by subsidiaries Daihatsu Motor and Hino Motors.
Nissan Motor reported a 40.0 percent drop in output to 1,099,760 vehicles, while Honda announced a 33.7 percent decline.
NT dollar hits three-week high
The New Taiwan dollar rose to a three-week high on speculation exports will pick up and more funds will flow into emerging-market assets as a global economic recovery gathers pace.
The NT dollar rose NT$0.077, closing at NT$32.743 to the US dollar yesterday, Taipei Forex Inc said. It earlier reached NT$32.72, its strongest level since July 2.
“The US dollar has been weak globally and we are starting to see a little bit of selling interest and pressure” for the NT dollar to gain, said Gerrard Katz, head of foreign-exchange trading at Standard Chartered Plc in Hong Kong.
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