TAIEX gains on earnings
Share prices closed up 0.38 percent yesterday in Taipei, led by electronics stocks on better-than-expected earnings reports, dealers said.
The TAIEX rose 26.15 points to 6,909.02 on turnover of NT$107.61 billion (US$3.36 billion).
Gainers led losers 1,202 to 1,224 with 180 stocks unchanged.
“Electronic stocks are performing stronger as investors expect a better outlook for the rest of the year after big tech names recorded better July revenues,” Mega Securities (兆豐證券) analyst Alex Huang (黃國偉) said.
The bourse recovered from early losses on concerns over the damage from Typhoon Morakot.
Far Eastern Textile shares fall
Far Eastern Textile Ltd (遠東紡織) shares fell to their lowest level in almost two months in Taipei after the nation’s biggest textiles company reported year-on-year sales dropped by one-fifth last month and the firm’s rating was cut at Morgan Stanley.
Shares fell 2.4 percent to NT$35, the lowest since June 18, on the Taiwan Stock Exchange. On Monday, the company said last month’s sales fell 20.2 percent from a year earlier to NT$3.64 billion.
Morgan Stanley downgraded the stock to “equal-weight” from “overweight,” saying the shares are “fairly valued at current levels” and that the company’s core polyester business will continue to post losses until the third quarter.
Hong Kong tourism declines
The number of tourists arriving in Hong Kong fell 4.9 percent, equivalent to 827,000 people, between January and last month as the global economic crisis deterred travelers, the South China Morning Post reported yesterday.
Tourism Board chairman James Tien (田北俊) forecast that the number of visitors would also fall this month, although he was hopeful of a revival later this year, the newspaper said.
“There were steep declines in the number of long-haul visitors, especially from January to April, but short-haul and mainland arrivals only started to suffer from May,” Tien said. “My worry is that the numbers are still falling and it seems August will also suffer.”
The Tourism Board said the number of tourists was down 12.5 percent last month as worsening unemployment and the swine flu pandemic kept travelers at home.
NEC mulls stock sales
NEC Corp, Japan’s largest PC maker, hired Morgan Stanley and Daiwa Securities SMBC Co to sell as much as ¥200 billion (US$2.1 billion) in stock and bonds, three people familiar with the plan said.
NEC, which last sold stock to the public in 2003, may offer new shares to Japanese and global investors as early as next month, said the people, who asked not to be identified because they aren’t authorized to discuss the sale publicly.
The Tokyo-based company is also considering selling securities such as subordinated debt, the people said.
NEC is constantly considering various options and the company has steady cash flow, said Makoto Miyakawa, a spokesman at the company.
Morgan Stanley spokeswoman Mika Watanabe in Tokyo declined to comment, as did Daiwa Securities spokesman Ryoji Fuchinoue.
NT dollar drops
The New Taiwan dollar lost ground against the US dollar on the Taipei Foreign Exchange yesterday, declining NT$0.037 to close at NT$32.855.
A total of US$1.12 billion changed hands during the day’s trading.
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