Market Trend

According to the latest survey by WitsView, a research division of TrendForce, the MCI index edged down by 12.3 points to 5897.5 between February 14, 2011 and March 1, 2011. After tumbling by more than 100 points in the first half of Feb11, the declines during the second half were much more moderate. Even so, there are concerns that the current unrest in the Middle East and rising global inflation pressure will negatively affect the end market demand, which will in turn impact the forthcoming MCI performance. But on the other side of the coin, there has also been some upbeat market news. First of all, due to the panel makers’ incurring losses, further declines in the panel price is becoming more and more limited. Second, a temporary market upturn may be observed in Mar11, caused by the fewer working days during the Chinese Lunar New Year and labor and raw material shortage in Feb11. These factors has created a lower base period in Feb11 and caused some of the demand to be delayed until Mar11. Finally, panel makers are aggressively trying to tap the touch panel segment, which should help stimulate the industry momentum during 2H11. All in all, these positive and negative market factors were a key reason behind the MCI index fluctuations over the past two weeks.