Taiwan's key stock index had its biggest gain in nine months, led by semiconductor makers like United Microelectronics Corp (UMC, 聯電), after a key US technology index jumped to a three-week high.
Investor sentiment was also boosted by optimism that business ties with China will improve, after President Chen Shui-bian (
The TAIEX added 171.00, or 4.7 percent, to 3,789.93, its biggest gain since Jan. 16, though it's down 9 percent since the Sept. 11 terrorist attack on the US.
Within the index, 465 stocks rose and just 23 fell. Trade was NT$50.8 billion (US$1.5 billion), almost double that of Monday.
"Shares appear oversold and the market is partially up" on US technology share gains, said Neal Stovicek, a strategic adviser at National Securities Corp (
President Chen's speech on Wednesday "is a positive move in the right direction if Taiwan continues the trend of economic integration with China."
The widely watched Philadelphia Semiconductor Index, a price weighted index of 16 companies involved in the design and production of chips, surged 6.7 percent on Wednesday.
UMC, the second-biggest made-to-order chipmaker, rose NT$1.80, or 6.7 percent, to NT$28.70. UMC's American depositary receipts (ADRs) rose 8 percent to US$5.42 on Wednesday.
Taiwan's leading contract chip manufacturer, Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC,
China Development Industrial Bank (
Taiwan's biggest lender by market value said a report that it will buy a 41 percent stake in International Commercial Bank of China (中國商銀) "isn't right," according to Grace Fang (方鳳山), spokeswoman for China Development.
Chunghwa Telecom Co (
Delta Electronics Inc (
Winbond Electronics Corp (
CSBC Corp, Taiwan (台灣國際造船) yesterday released the first video documenting the submerged sea trials of Taiwan’s indigenous defense submarine prototype, the Hai Kun (海鯤), or Narwhal, showing underwater navigation and the launch of countermeasures. The footage shows the vessel’s first dive, steering and control system tests, and the raising and lowering of the periscope and antenna masts. It offered a rare look at the progress in the submarine’s sea acceptance tests. The Hai Kun carried out its first shallow-water diving trial late last month and has since completed four submerged tests, CSBC said. The newly released video compiles images recorded from Jan. 29 to
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Taiwanese trade negotiators told Washington that Taipei would not relocate 40 percent of its semiconductor production to the US, and that its most advanced technologies would remain in the nation, Vice Premier Cheng Li-chiun (鄭麗君) said on Sunday. “I told the US side very clearly — that’s impossible,” Cheng, who led the negotiation team, said in an interview that aired on Sunday night on Chinese Television System. Cheng was referring to remarks last month by US Secretary of Commerce Howard Lutnick, in which he said his goal was to bring 40 percent of Taiwan’s chip supply chain to the US Taiwan’s almost
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