Taipei, May 9 (CNA) Shares of DelSolar Co. Ltd., a solar cell supplier, jumped Wednesday on their first day of trading since being listed on the Taiwan Stock Exchange (TWSE), with the stock riding the waves of a solid technical rebound staged by the local solar energy sector, dealers said.
Many investors have embraced high hopes that DelSolar will get strong support from financially strong shareholder Delta Electronics Inc., which owns an approximate 60 percent stake in the solar battery maker, for future development, they said.
DelSolar's goal to make itself turn a profit this year also encouraged many investors to chase prices on the stock's debut on the main board, they added.
Shares of DelSolar closed up 56.46 percent at NT$23.00 with 11.22 million shares changing hands, while the benchmark weighted index ended down 0.92 percent at 7,475.71 points.
Market analysts said the stock was basically enjoying a honeymoon period with investors, while bargain hunting in the local solar energy sector lent further support to its share price throughout the trading session.
Among the winning solar energy stocks, shares of Neo Solar Power Corp., a solar wafer maker, rose 2.09 percent to close at NT$22.00, while shares of Wafer Works Corp. gained 7 percent, the maximum daily increase, to end at NT$23.10.
A newly listed stock is not confined to the 7 percent downward and upward fluctuation limits in the first five trading sessions after its listing.
For the listing, DelSolar issued 17.20 million shares at NT$14.7 each to raise about NT$252.84 million as working capital for future operations.
Analysts said the issue price has been attractive to many investors as the book value per share of DelSolar reached as high as NT$27.42 at the end of the first quarter of this year.
They said as Delta Electronics, a local high-tech heavyweight, serves as the largest shareholder of DelSolar, many investors have been upbeat that solar cell supplier will obtain sufficient financial resources to compete in the market.
Before the debut of the stock, DelSolar President Lidon Chen said the company had written off massive losses from raw material purchases last year and has been gearing up to improve its bottom line this year.
In 2011, DelSolar incurred NT$2.54 billion in net loss or NT$10.66 in loss per share, compared with NT$435.13 million in net profit or NT$1.74 in earnings per share recorded a year earlier.
(By Maranda Hsu and Frances Huang)
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