TAIEX higher on strength of NT
Share prices closed 2.19 percent higher yesterday as the currency's continued strength triggered hopes for a stock market boost from more capital inflows, dealers said.
Investors also took note of a firmer finish on Wall Street on Friday after a report that a bailout plan would be announced soon for troubled US bond insurer Ambac Financial, they said.
The weighted index closed up 177.60 points at 8,286.31, after moving between 8,228.92 and 8,307.75, on turnover of NT$165.39 billion (US$5.28 billion).
"Investor zeal for buying equities was easily stoked as the local currency had another day of big appreciation," said Michael Hsu (�?@), assistant vice president at Taiwan Life Asset Management (台壽保投信).
"There is good reason to believe that currency appreciation is precisely what our central bank has in mind," he said. "Not trying to stop the currency from rising further will serve the dual purposes of curbing inflation and inducing capital inflows, mostly to equities."
Chunghwa hits seven-year high
Chunghwa Telecom Co (中華電信), Taiwan's biggest phone operator, rose to its highest in seven years in Taipei after a proposed land sale raised speculation that the company may sell more real-estate assets.
Chunghwa Telecom shares climbed by the daily limit of 6.9 percent to NT$77, its highest level since Feb. 8, 2001. The benchmark Taiex index gained 2.2 percent.
The company plans to sell a property in Taipei to the Taiwan Stock Exchange for use as a data center, Chunghwa said in a filing on Friday. The transaction is worth about NT$660 million, spokeswoman Shen Fu-fu (沈馥馥) said yesterday.
"The announcement fuels hopes that Chunghwa will profit more from selling its land," said Eric Yao, who helps manage US$152 million at Truswell Securities Investment Trust Co (富鼎投信) in Taipei.
Microsoft to end HD DVD line
Microsoft Corp plans to stop making HD DVD players and cut the price of existing supplies by more than half after the leading promoter of the high-definition video format conceded defeat to Sony Corp's Blu-ray last week.
"From tomorrow [today], we will cut the price to US$49," said Grace Chou (周文英), a Taipei-based spokeswoman for the company. Microsoft's Xbox 360 game console includes a standard DVD player, and customers can buy an HD DVD machine to use with the console at US$119.99 through retailers like Amazon.com.
"It will not have a big impact because we don't sell HD DVD with the Xbox 360, only as an add-on," Chou said.
Chi Mei to open solar cell unit
Chi Mei Optoelectronics Corp (奇美電子), Taiwan's second-largest producer of liquid-crystal displays, plans to invest NT$2 billion (US$64 million) to set up a unit for making solar cells.
The company expects to begin production in the first three months of next year, Loreta Chen (陳靜燕), a spokeswoman of the Tainan-based LCD maker, said yesterday.
Fuel crisis slims car market
Statistics indicate that new car registrations in Taiwan have declined over 30 percent in two years, a clear sign that the car market is continuing to shrink as a possible result of soaring global oil prices, according to a press report issued on Saturday by the Taipei City Motor Vehicles Office.
Last year, 366,022 new cars were registered, showing a 9.6 percent decline year-on-year, according to the press report. Compared with the 2005 figure of 545,856, the downsizing could be expanded to a 33 percent decline, the report said.
The report attributed the decline mainly to high crude oil prices and a weakening global economy.
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