Asian tech shares boosted by Apple's robust earnings

LG Innotek Co

02/08/2017 07:27

* Hardware suppliers in Taiwan, S. Korea, Japan gain 
    * Apple's earnings surprise comes ahead of new iPhone launch 
 
    By Jess Macy Yu 
    TAIPEI, Aug 2 (Reuters) - Asian tech shares rallied on 
Wednesday on the back of Apple's   AAPL.O  robust earnings, with 
hopes the iPhone maker's fortunes will help boost sales of the 
region's hardware component suppliers ahead of the new iPhone 
launch.  
    On Tuesday, Apple Inc  AAPL.O  delivered surprisingly strong 
fiscal third-quarter earnings and signalled that its upcoming 
10th anniversary iPhone lineup is on schedule. The news drove 
its stock up 6 percent to a record high in after-hours trading. 
 urn:newsml:reuters.com:*:nL4N1KN5TO 
    In Taiwan, camera lens-maker Largan Precision  3008.TW  rose 
to an all-time high of T$5,810.00 ($192.20), and was last up 4.8 
percent at T$5,765.00.  
    Apple supplier Foxconn  2317.TW , formally known as Hon Hai 
Precision Industry Co, saw its shares hit a three-week high of  
T$119.50. Shares of the world's largest contract electronics 
manufacturer were last up 1.7 percent at T$118.50. 
    Catcher Technology  2474.TW , a metal casings and component 
manufacturer for electronic products, saw its shares rise to a 
2-week high of T$378.50. It was last up 2.7 percent at T$375.00. 
    Chip designer Mediatek  2545.TW , which supplies 
system-on-chip solutions for wireless communications and digital 
multimedia solutions, also saw its shares rise as much as 3.6 
pct to its highest since Nov 5, 2015.  urn:newsml:reuters.com:*:nL4N1KO1L8  
    The tech gains outpaced the overall stock benchmark, with 
Taiwan shares  .TWII  rising 0.80 percent to 10,519.27 points as 
of 0553 GMT. The semiconductor subindex  .TSII  rose 1.4 percent 
and the electronics subindex  .TELI  gained 1.3 percent.    
    South Korean and Japanese component suppliers also reflected 
some of Apple's lustre.    
    South Korea's LG Innotek  011070.KS , which supplies iPhone 
parts such as the dual camera, jumped over 10.7 percent while 
the sub-index for techs  .KS41  rose more than 1 percent. 
 urn:newsml:reuters.com:*:nL4N1KO0VU.  
    In Japan, shares of Apple suppliers surged. Murata 
Manufacturing  6981.T  gained 4.9 percent, Taiyo Yuden  6976.T  
rose 4.4 percent and TDK Corp  6762.T  added 2.8 percent.  
    The MSCI tech index for Asia  .MIAS0IT00PUS  climbed 0.9 
percent to highs not seen since early 2000, bringing its gains 
for the year to nearly 40 percent.  urn:newsml:reuters.com:*:nL4N1KN6N7     
 
 
($1 = 30.2290 Taiwan dollars) 
 
 (Reporting by Jess Macy Yu in Taipei; Additional reporting by 
Dahee Kim in Seoul and Ayai Tomisawa in Tokyo; Editing by Lisa 
Twaronite) 
 ((JessicaMacy.Yu@thomsonreuters.com; +886 2 2500-4882;)) 
 
Keywords: ASIA MARKETS/TECH