TAIEX drops 1.08 percent
Taiwanese shares declined yesterday, snapping a five-day winning streak after climbing to a 19-month high of 8,327.62 the previous day.
The weighted index fell 90.2 points, or 1.08 percent, to close at 8,237.42 on turnover of NT$200.76 billion (US$6.31 billion), a significant increase from Wednesday’s NT$186.97 billion.
Eight major stock categories all lost ground, with foodstuff dropping the most at 1.8 percent. Cement stocks fell 1.7 percent, machinery and electronics issues shed 1.4 percent, banking and financial stocks, textile shares and construction issues each gave up 1.1 percent.
Foreign institutional investors were net buyers of NT$11.21 billion in shares.
Abu Dhabi investor eyes UMC
An Abu Dhabi-based investment firm wants to acquire leading Taiwanese chipmaker United Microelectronics Corp (UMC, 聯電) as it tries to become the world leader in the market, a report said yesterday.
Advanced Technology Investment Company (ATIC) is targeting UMC following its acquisition of Singapore’s Chartered Semiconductor Manufacturing last year, the Economic Daily News said, citing unnamed sources.
The firm hopes that by buying UMC, it can overtake Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company (台積電), the world’s largest contract microchip maker by revenue, the report said.
A spokesman at UMC declined to comment on the report.
Owned by the Abu Dhabi government, ATIC focuses on the high-tech sector and is the main shareholder in Globalfoundries, a joint venture with US microprocessor giant Advanced Micro Devices.
AIDC revenues soar
Taiwan’s sole aircraft maker, Aerospace Industrial Development Corp (AIDC, 漢翔), said yesterday its revenues hit a 10-year high last year despite the global crisis.
The company said revenues came in at NT$16.3 billion last year, beating its own previous forecast of just under NT$16 billion.
The increase in revenues mainly came from new orders for components from US-based Bell Aircraft and contracts for the maintenance of military aircraft, the company said.
It said it expected revenues to further improve this year on the back of orders from Japan’s Mitsubishi Aircraft Corp.
Under a contract it signed with Mitsubishi, the company will design and manufacture flaps, rudders and other components for a new regional jet.
Japan, China top travel wish list
Japan and China topped Taiwanese travelers’ wish list of destinations for outbound trips in the next six months, a MasterCard survey showed yesterday.
About 47 percent of local respondents said that they hoped to visit Japan in the next six months, followed by China at 35 percent, Thailand at 16 percent and Hong Kong at 15 percent.
Almost 90 percent of them prefer outbound trips in the Asia-Pacific region than those of a longer distance, the credit card issuer said in a written statement.
The survey, which was conducted in 14 countries in the region, also found that as many as 35 percent of respondents in Hong Kong — the highest among respondents from other countries — expressed hopes to visit Taiwan in the next six month.
That was followed by Singaporean respondents at 31 percent and Chinese respondents at a meager 13 percent, the survey showed.
NT drops on greenback
The NT dollar yesterday slightly weakened by NT$0.002 to close at NT$31.877 against the US dollar on turnover of US$719 million.
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