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Strategies & Market Trends : Zeev's Turnips - No Politics -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Ted Downs who wrote (45285)	4/1/2002 10:28:53 AM
From: Ibexx	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 99280

Bloomberg article: casualties 5, not days of work lost. One week halt was referred to the previous quake 3 years ago. 04/01 01:13 Taiwan Quake Toll Rises to 5; Chipmakers Report Little Damage By Iain Pocock Taipei, April 1 (Bloomberg) -- Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Corp., the world's biggest producer of made-to-order chips, and other chipmakers reported some machinery damage from the worst earthquake to hit Taiwan in almost three years, though production and sales won't be affected. The death toll from the 6.8-magnitude temblor rose to five, all related to two cranes crashing to the street from atop the half-completed 101-story Taipei Financial Center. Shares in Fubon Financial Holding Co., one of the building's insurers, fell as much as 2.4 percent after Taiwan's biggest property insurer forecast NT$10 million ($286,000) in compensation payments. Construction on the world's tallest building has been halted. Financial markets, banks and businesses reopened today. The local dollar and the benchmark TWSE index were little changed. The stoic Taiwanese, who endured more than 300 temblors last year, went back to work today with tales of nerves on edge. It was the worst quake since September 1999, when 2,500 people died and damage ran to $13 billion. Lee Meiling and her husband were at the Warner Village cinema complex near the Taipei Financial Center, where they were watching the last 20 minutes of Mirmax Films' Oscar-nominated romantic comedy ``Amelie From Montmartre,'' when the quake struck at 3 p.m. ``Everybody rushed out of the cinema as soon as we felt the quake,'' said Lee, a 38-year old banker. ``Outside, policemen and ambulances were everywhere. Traffic was in chaos. Everyone tried to leave the area.'' The earthquake was centered 44 kilometers (28 miles) off the east coast of the island, a shallow 10 kilometers underground. Six aftershocks of at least magnitude 4 followed, the Central Weather Bureau said. About 272 people were injured, Agence France-Presse said. Chipmakers Attention focused today on the island's biggest industry, the chipmakers, with memories fresh of the one-week production halt and the $2.6 billion lost in the 1999 earthquake. TSMC, United Microelectronic Corp., Nanya Technology Corp. and ProMos Technologies Inc. were among the companies reporting equipment damage, though no dollar estimates were given. ``A very minimal amount of equipment was slightly affected,'' United Microelectronics Corp., the second-largest made-to-order chipmaker, said in a statement. Semiconductor stocks were mixed on the news. TSMC was down 1 percent at NT$95.50, UMC rose 1 percent to NT$53, and Nanya was down 1.8 percent at NT$42.90. ``The impact will be limited,'' said Gregory Lue, who helps manage NT$4 billion in stocks at Taiwan International Investment Management Co. ``Sales are coming from the demand side, not the production side.'' The earthquake-prone island sits along faults between the Philippine Sea tectonic plate and the Eurasian Continental tectonic plate. Quakes occur as the plates push together. More aftershocks are expected. Some of the more superstitious noted that yesterday's trembler came 921 days after the Sept. 21 earthquake of 1999. Other people just said they will get on with their lives. ``We hope to catch the end of the movie some other time,'' said Lee of ``Amelie.'' ©2002 Bloomberg L.P. All rights reserved. Terms of Service, Privacy Policy and Trademarks.