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Updated Friday, September 3, 2010 11:25 pm TWN, The China Post news staff

Auto shares up after strong August

Taiwan's auto shares surged yesterday, on strong sales in August despite a large portion of the month overlapping the so-called Ghost Month.

By the close of market, Yulon-Nissan closed at NT$92.9, up 6.42 percent. Hotai Motor closed at NT$92.6, up 2.43 percent. Yulon Motor and China Motor Corp. rose by 1.5 percent and 2.34 percent, respectively. The weighted index TAIEX closed up 52.57 points to 7,720.82.

Investors rushed to buy auto shares after government data showed 24,000 new license plates were issued last month, higher than the 20,000 that industry watchers had expected.

The number was a decline of 32.4 percent from July but a 3.8 percent year-over-year increase. At the same time, the number was still impressive as 21 days of August overlapped Ghost Month, the seventh month of the Lunar Calendar; from Aug. 10 to Sept. 7 this year. The period augurs bad luck for the Chinese, who often refrain from buying new cars or houses.

However, this year has been different with the auto industry continuing to attract business from customers who feared that new cars will become more expensive in the fourth quarter, due to a surging Japanese yen.

Cumulatively, a total of 207,000 new vehicles were sold from January to August, a 20.3 percent increase from the same period last year. Industry watchers are expecting carmakers to do even better in September, as the Ghost Month draws to a close. They are expecting new car sales to reach 24,000 to 25,000 for the month.

By market share in August, Hotai, which distributes Toyota and Lexus models in Taiwan, had the highest of 32.8 percent, followed by China Motor, which distributes Mitsubishi vehicles. Yulon-Nissan, distributor of Nissan-branded cars, was No. 3. Yulon Motor, which distributes self-branded Luxgen cars, sold 1,225 vehicles, taking the No. 6 place with a market share of 5.1 percent.

By earnings per share in the first half, Hotai also took the lead with NT$5.96, followed by Yulon-Nissan's NT$5.59.

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