Shares close up 0.73%
Taiwanese shares closed up 0.73 percent yesterday on robust buying by foreign investors, dealers said.
The TAIEX index rose 58.45 points to 8,112.28 — the highest level since June last year — on turnover of NT$155.26 billion (US$4.85 billion). Gainers led losers 1,735 to 1,082, with 308 stocks unchanged.
“I think the upward momentum will extend to the Lunar New Year” in February on anticipated strong demand from China, Concord Securities (康和證券) manager Allen Lin said.
China ‘mitigating slump’
China said yesterday that its trade delegations to Taiwan this year spent US$14 billion, shielding it from the full impact of the financial crisis.
The value of food, electronics and other products purchased by the Chinese teams accounted for 7.6 percent of Taiwan’s total exports in the first 11 months of the year, said Fan Liqing (范麗青), a spokeswoman for the Taiwan Affairs Office.
That “played an important role in mitigating the slump in Taiwan’s exports and [helping it] fend off the impact of the international financial crisis,” Fan said at a news conference.
AUO buys Nikon equipment
AU Optronics Corp (AUO, 友達光電), Taiwan’s biggest maker of liquid-crystal displays, bought NT$8 billion in equipment from Nikon Corp, according to an exchange filing yesterday.
AUO, the world’s No. 3 flat-panel maker, jumped 1.18 percent, while smaller rival Chi Mei Optoelectronics Corp (奇美電子) was up 0.68 percent.
Sony acquires panel stake
Sony Corp acquired a 7.04 percent stake in Sharp Corp’s LCD panel factory in Sakai, Japan, for ¥10 billion (US$109 million), the Asahi Shimbun newspaper reported, without citing anyone.
The acquisition gives Sony the right to 7 percent of panels produced at the factory, the newspaper reported.
Sony plans to raise the stake to as much as 34 percent by April 2011, Asahi said.
Suning to buy Citicall
Suning Appliance Co (蘇寧電器), China’s biggest electronics retailer by market value, agreed to buy Hong Kong retail chain Citicall in a deal valued at as much as HK$215 million (US$27.7 million), according to a statement filed to the Shenzhen stock exchange yesterday.
The purchase will give Nanjing-based Suning 22 outlets in Hong Kong, and the company aims to expand the number to 50 in three years, the statement said.
S Korea ends chip probe
South Korea’s antitrust regulator has completed a three-year price-fixing probe of the flash memory industry.
The Fair Trade Commission found no evidence of collusion among manufacturers of the chips in the Korean market, it said in a statement yesterday. Two South Korean companies, one US company and a Japanese firm were at the center of the inquiry, the regulator said, without identifying them.
The US Justice department in August said it concluded a two-year price-fixing investigation of the flash memory industry that ended with no further action taken.
NT dollar gains ground
The New Taiwan dollar gained ground against the US dollar on the Taipei Foreign Exchange yesterday, rising NT$0.052 to close at NT$32.238.
A total of US$675 million changed hands during the day’s trading.
The NT dollar opened at NT$32.360 against the greenback and fluctuated between NT$32.150 and NT$32.370 during the session.
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