TAIEX rises slightly
Taiwan’s benchmark index closed little changed yesterday after a tug-of-war between follow-through buying in select old-economy stocks and selling in the high-tech sector was overshadowed by a rising New Taiwan dollar, dealers said. The TAIEX rose 2.16 points, or 0.02 percent, to 8,704.39, after moving between 8,654.49 and 8,716.00, on turnover of NT$123.50 billion (US$4.10 billion).
The market opened up 0.16 percent at the day’s high amid ample liquidity, while concern over Taiwan’s global competitiveness on the NT dollar’s appreciation dampened investor sentiment toward the bellwether electronics sector, the dealers said.
A total of 1,949 stocks closed up and 2,072 were down, with 440 remaining unchanged.
MOF to sell NT$30bn in bonds
The Ministry of Finance (MOF) yesterday said it would auction an extra NT$30 billion worth of 30-year government bonds to finance an existing special budget aimed at strengthening infrastructure facilities.
The bond is slated to be auctioned on Dec. 23 and be settled on Dec. 28, the ministry.
All government agencies will speed up carrying out the special funding that will also help stimulate the economy after the legislature gave its approval on May 25, the ministry said, adding that the new debt would not hurt the nation’s financial health.
E Ink revenue hits record-high
E Ink Holdings Inc (元太科技), the world’s biggest e-paper display supplier, yesterday said revenue hit a record-high of NT$3.28 billion last month, greatly exceeding the NT$3 billion predicted by most analysts.
E Ink attributed the growth to robust demand for e-readers, the company said in a press release. Online book store operator Amazon.com Inc, electronics maker Sony Corp and China’s e-reader maker Hanvon Technology Co (漢王科技) are E Ink customers.
E Ink had expected the growth momentum to carry into this month, as the Christmas shopping season would boost shipments and revenues even higher than those in November.
Compared with last year’s NT$1.86 billion, E Ink’s revenues last month grew 76.46 percent. That presented an 18.38 percent increase from NT$2.77 billion in October.
Macronix posts revenue drop
Memory chipmaker Macronix International Co Ltd (旺宏電子) yesterday said revenue dropped 18.4 percent to NT$1.69 billion last month from NT$2.08 billion in October. On an annual basis, that was a 31.4 percent decline.
In October, the Hsinchu-based chipmaker said revenues would shrink as high as 29 percent this quarter to between NT$5.8 billion and NT$6 billion, from NT$8.16 billion in the third quarter, blaming weak demand.
ADB expects soft 2011 growth
The Asian Development Bank (ADB) yesterday forecast that the nation’s economy would expand by 4 percent next year as its growth momentum moderates after this year’s strong showing.
In its Asia Economic Monitor report, the ADB said the nation’s exports would likely see its exports affected by weaker global demand, and growth in other areas, including industrial production and retail sales, is expected to moderate.
The report also expected the nation’s GDP to rise 9.8 percent for all of this year after the economy posted 13.2 percent growth in the first half of the year and 9.8 percent growth in the third quarter.
NT dollar inches down
The NT dollar fell against the US dollar yesterday, down NT$0.005 to close at NT$30.63.
Turnover totaled US$563 million during the trading session.
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