TAIEX falls 49.8 points
Share prices dropped yesterday, with the TAIEX falling 49.8 points, or 0.61 percent, to close at 8,004.25.
The bourse opened at 8,116.39 and fluctuated between 7,999.28 and 8,163.94. Market turnover totaled NT$152.04 billion (US$4.85 billion).
Six of the eight major stock categories lost ground, with paper and pulp shares dropping the most at 2.33 percent, followed by textile shares at 1.43 percent.
Foreign investors and Chinese qualified domestic institutional investors were net buyers of NT$12.92 billion in shares.
Pegatron profits up threefold
Pegatron Technology Corp (和碩聯合), the spun-off contract manufacturing arm of Asustek Computer Inc (華碩電腦), yesterday said its first-quarter profits rose nearly threefold to NT$1.8 billion as the spinoff move started to show a positive impact.
Earnings per share were NT$0.78 in the first quarter, up from last year’s NT$0.22, a statement said. Sales rose 32.7 percent to NT$110.2 billion.
“Year-on-year sales for the computing and consumer electronics segments showed better-than-expected growth; however, sales for the communication division saw a decline in the first quarter,” the statement said.
Gross margins edged up 0.1 percentage point to 4.6 percent.
Evergreen posts NT$87m loss
Evergreen Marine Corp (長榮海運), the nation’s biggest container shipping line, posted a smaller-than-estimated first-quarter loss as the global economic recovery spurred demand for cargo shipments.
The NT$87 million net loss compared with a loss of NT$2.74 billion a year earlier, the Taipei-based company said in an exchange filing yesterday.
Sales climbed 2.3 percent to NT$3.71 billion in the quarter as the global economy recovered from its worst recession in six decades.
Evergreen will begin talks next month on buying about 100 ships because of rising shipments of Asian-made furniture, electronics and clothes to the US and Europe.
“Market demand is definitely improving for Evergreen Marine,” said Bruce Tsao (曹伯瑄), a Taipei-based analyst at Capital Securities Corp (群益證券), which has a “buy” rating on the stock.
“The company may make a profit this year, or at least break even,” he said.
Evergreen Marine climbed 6.9 percent to NT$20.15 in Taipei trading before the earnings announcement.
Foreign loan details required
The central bank asked 65 banks for details on their foreign-currency lending to make sure exporters and importers are not using the loans to speculate on the local currency, an official said.
Central bank rules stipulate that companies must have real demand before they ask banks for foreign-currency loans, and proceeds cannot be exchanged into NT dollars, the official at the licensing department said by telephone yesterday.
The NT dollar has climbed 1.5 percent this month, the most since September, on speculation that the yuan’s appreciation and a planned trade accord with China will attract funds to local assets.
“Foreign investors have every reason to send in funds, as there will be more gains for the NT dollar if the yuan rises” and because of the trade agreement, said Henry Lin, a currency trader at Shin Kong Commercial Bank (新光銀行) in Taipei. “The central bank may be stalling it, but the inflows are too big.”
The NT dollar rose NT$0.032 to close at NT$31.418 against its US counterpart on turnover of US$866 million yesterday.
FALLING BEHIND: Samsung shares have declined more than 20 percent this year, as the world’s largest chipmaker struggles in key markets and plays catch-up to rival SK Hynix Samsung Electronics Co is laying off workers in Southeast Asia, Australia and New Zealand as part of a plan to reduce its global headcount by thousands of jobs, sources familiar with the situation said. The layoffs could affect about 10 percent of its workforces in those markets, although the numbers for each subsidiary might vary, said one of the sources, who asked not to be named because the matter is private. Job cuts are planned for other overseas subsidiaries and could reach 10 percent in certain markets, the source said. The South Korean company has about 147,000 in staff overseas, more than half
Taipei is today suspending its US$2.5 trillion stock market as Super Typhoon Krathon approaches Taiwan with strong winds and heavy rain. The nation is not conducting securities, currency or fixed-income trading, statements from its stock and currency exchanges said. Yesterday, schools and offices were closed in several cities and counties in southern and eastern Taiwan, including in the key industrial port city of Kaohsiung. Taiwan, which started canceling flights, ship sailings and some train services earlier this week, has wind and rain advisories in place for much of the island. It regularly experiences typhoons, and in July shut offices and schools as
An Indian factory producing iPhone components resumed work yesterday after a fire that halted production — the third blaze to disrupt Apple Inc’s local supply chain since the start of last year. Local industrial behemoth Tata Group’s plant in Tamil Nadu, which was shut down by the unexplained fire on Saturday, is a key linchpin of Apple’s nascent supply chain in the country. A spokesperson for subsidiary Tata Electronics Pvt yesterday said that the company would restart work in “many areas of the facility today.” “We’ve been working diligently since Saturday to support our team and to identify the cause of the fire,”
TECH PARTNERSHIP: The deal with Arizona-based Amkor would provide TSMC with advanced packing and test capacities, a requirement to serve US customers Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) is collaborating with Amkor Technology Inc to provide local advanced packaging and test capacities in Arizona to address customer requirements for geographical flexibility in chip manufacturing. As part of the agreement, TSMC, the world’s biggest contract chipmaker, would contract turnkey advanced packaging and test services from Amkor at their planned facility in Peoria, Arizona, a joint statement released yesterday said. TSMC would leverage these services to support its customers, particularly those using TSMC’s advanced wafer fabrication facilities in Phoenix, Arizona, it said. The companies would jointly define the specific packaging technologies, such as TSMC’s Integrated
RSS