Taipei shares higher in early trade after Wall St rally on solid July home sales

Taipei shares higher in early trade after Wall St rally on solid July home sales

	Published : Mon, 27 Aug 2007 03:42 By : Agencies Print this Story

TAIPEI (XFN-ASIA) - Share prices were higher in early trade on the back of Wall Street's strong gains on Friday as investors regained some confidence after a stronger-than-expected reading on new US homes sales for July.

The market also continued to hope that the worst of the subprime mortgage crisis would soon be over.

Some selling pressure remained but firmer markets around the region helped support local sentiment

As of 9.55 am, the weighted index was up 98.65 points or 1.14 pct at 8,788.74, having traded between 8,84.9.96 and 8,786.57.

Turnover was 44.83 bln twd.

Risers led decliners 1,187 to 387, with 278 stocks unchanged.

A total of 14 stocks closed limit-up, while six were limit-down.

The transport sector was up 2.38 pct, electronics up 1.37 pct and financials up 0.75 pct.

An analyst with a local securities house said trading in New York on Friday encouraged global markets to head north before the weekend, which influenced the direction of the local bourse when it opened this morning.

'Wall Street again set the pace for the global markets, although there was still some bargain-hunting and stop-loss selling pressure here,' the analyst said.

How US shares will trade in coming days will also be crucial to the short-term trend local stocks will take, he added.

He also said those who built positions at lows a week ago when the market was trading at around 8,000 points must now be eager to pocket profits.

'Likewise, those who had purchased stocks at higher costs when the index was at around 9,000 points could be keen to sell those shares to stop the losses.'

China's stock market may also influence local sentiment, the analyst added.

Hon Hai Precision Industry Co Ltd rose 10.50 twd to 240.50 after going ex-dividend, with sentiment bolstered by robust earnings prospects and a report that it is not ruling out a tieup with China's Alibaba.com Corp.

Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co Ltd advanced 0.60 to 62.20 after its board of directors approved a proposal to increase its stake in Vanguard International Semiconductor Corp by buying an additional 11 pct in block trade deals at a total price not exceeding 5.55 bln twd, or up to 29.70 twd per share. Vanguard International rallied 0.70 to 28.50.

Cathay Financial Holdings gained 1.40 to 75.90 as it has posted no losses so far from its 3.32 bln twd indirect exposure to the US subprime mortgage market.

China Steel Corp climbed 0.35 to 39.65, with sentiment bolstered by its decision to increase the domestic basic prices of its steel products by an average 0.48 pct for the fourth quarter to December.

Quanta Computer Inc lost 1.60 to 53.70 after its board appointed CC Leung as president, replacing Michael Wang, who stepped down to pursue a personal career plan.

Taishin Financial Holding Co Ltd added 0.05 to 16.45 after the company said its board has decided to appoint Lehman Brothers as its lead financial adviser for a share swap being considered with Chang Hwa Bank. Chang Hwa Bank added 0.20 to 19.80.

Shin Kong Financial Holding Co Ltd rose 0.10 to 31.90 on a report that it is set to increase its stake in Masterlink Securities Corp further to at least 25 pct, officially making the firm into a subsidiary by the government-set deadline of September 30. MasterLink added 0.15 to 15.60.

Shin Kong, however, later said it would rather keep its options open at this point on whether or not to raise its stake in Masterlink.

adela.lin@afxasia.com

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