Heavyweights boost TAIEX
The TAIEX closed up yesterday as buying focused on market heavyweights, helping the broader market break through the narrow range in trading seen earlier in the session, dealers said.
Turnover remained thin, as many foreign institutional investors were away for the Christmas holiday and local investors stayed on the sidelines because of lingering concerns over the US’ pending “fiscal cliff,” they said.
The weighted index closed up 101.05 points, or 1.34 percent, at 7,636.57, on turnover of NT$56.16 billion (US$1.93 billion).
Export zones post big profits
The nation’s export processing zones posted more than NT$312.9 billion in revenue in the first 11 months of the year, the Ministry of Economic Affairs’ Export Processing Zone Administration said yesterday. The ministry also said the figure indicated that its promotion of industry clusters has improved the efficiency of businesses operating in the zones.
In the Taichung Export Processing Zone, the biggest cluster is comprised of 28 optoelectronics companies, which make up 93 percent of the total number of companies and include Wintek Corp (勝華), Lingsen Precision Industries Ltd (菱生精密), Canon Inc Taiwan and Asia Optical Co (亞洲光學).
The 32 semiconductor packaging companies in the Nantze Export Processing Zone are the biggest cluster there, making up 90 percent of the total number, which includes Advanced Semiconductor Engineering Inc (日月光) and NXP Semiconductors Taiwan Ltd.
The Kaohsiung Software-based Technology Park accommodates 149 knowledge-based companies that account for 81 percent of the total number.
TransAsia deploys first Airbus
The first Airbus A330-300 acquired by TransAsia Airways Corp (復興航空) was deployed on routes to Japan and Singapore yesterday as part of the airline’s efforts to expand passenger capacity on its international flights.
“The A330-300 aircraft — our first wide-body jet –– will contribute to our new destination expansion and enhance our competitiveness among our peers,” TransAsia chairman Vincent Lin (林明昇) said.
With the introduction of two A330s the airline will achieve better efficiency and mitigate the effects of fluctuating fuel prices as it adds different models to its fleet, Lin said.
The airline plans to obtain another six A321-200s, 12 A321-neos and 12 ATR-600s, all to be delivered by 2020, he added.
Last week, TransAsia announced plans to establish a Bangkok branch to facilitate the airline’s reach into Southeast Asia, he said.
King Yuan increases capex
King Yuan Electronics Co (京元電子), one of the nation’s leading integrated circuit testing service providers, yesterday said it is planning to allocate almost NT$5 billion in capital expenditure (capex) next year to expand its business.
The company said its board has approved a proposal for NT$4.99 billion in capex for next year, up from about NT$3.8 billion this year. The planned capex will be funded from its own capital and by bank loans, King Yuan said.
Of the nearly NT$5 billion in capex, King Yuan said, it would spend about NT$1 billion building a new production base in Miaoli County’s Tongluo Township (銅鑼) and the remaining NT$3.99 billion could be used to purchase integrated circuit testing equipment to boost the company’s overall production capacity, it said.
NT dollar loses to greenback
The New Taiwan dollar fell against the US dollar yesterday, dropping NT$0.002 to close at NT$29.130.
Turnover totaled about US$352 million during the trading session.
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