text: Fri, Jun 26, 2015 - Page 14 News List
  Money supply still growing
  The nation's money supply continued to increase year-on-year last month, with the broader monetary gauge M2 growing faster than the narrower M1B for a fifth month running, the central bank said yesterday. M1B, referring to cash and cash equivalents, gained 6.18 percent last month from a year earlier, slower than M2's 6.81 percent increase, the central bank said. M2 includes savings deposits, time savings deposits, foreign currency deposits, mutual funds and M1B. The central bank attributed the faster increase in M2 to inflows of foreign funds that often move worldwide in the pursuit of higher returns.
  Hiwin expects a pickup
  Hiwin Technologies Corp (上銀科技), one of the nation's major machine tool makers, yesterday said it expects its business performance to improve in the second half of the year on the back of increasing orders for key components for industrial automation. The company also expects gear-cutting tools maker Luren Precision Co (陸聯精密) to become profitable next year, Hiwin chairman Eric Chuo (卓永財) told shareholders. Hiwin bought a 41.93 percent stake in Luren for more than NT$100 million (US$3.22 million) in March. The company's shareholders approved a proposal to distribute a cash dividend of NT$3.2 per share and a stock dividend of 3 percent per share based on last year's net income of NT$2.26 billion, or NT$9.2 per share. That translates into a payout ratio of 34.78 percent and represents a cash yield of 1.52 percent, based on Hiwin's closing price of NT$210.50 in Taipei trading yesterday.
  Asia Pacific expanding
  Asia Pacific Telecom Co's (亞太電信) 4G network coverage should reach 95 percent of the population by August or September, a company executive said yesterday, amid controversy over the company's practice of offering 4G roaming services using Taiwan Mobile Telecom Co's (台灣大哥大) network. The National Communications Commission on Tuesday signaled that it was illegal for the company to provide roaming services in the nation using Taiwan Mobile's network. Company chairman Lu Fang-ming (呂芳銘) said the company has 295,000 4G subscribers. Asia Pacific is a telecommunications arm of Hon Hai Precision Industry Co (鴻海精密). The company lost NT$8.41 billion last year, reversing a net profit of NT$1.84 billion in 2013.
  Large caps lead advance
  The TAIEX rose 0.84 percent yesterday, as large-cap stocks staged an across-the-board technical rebound, dealers said. Market sentiment improved to some extent after foreign institutional investors raised their long position contracts in the futures market in the previous session, they said. Shares of smartphone camera lens supplier Largan Precision Co (大立光) closed at a new high, amid optimism over the company's earnings in the second half of this year, when Apple Inc's orders are expected to stream in for production of the next generation iPhone, dealers said. The TAIEX closed 79.03 points higher at 9,476.34 on turnover of NT$101.29 billion. Among the large-cap gainers were Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (台積電), the most heavily weighted stock on the local market, which rose 1.03 percent to close at NT$146.50, while Hon Hai Precision Industry Co (鴻海精密) advanced 1.43 percent to end at NT$99.