China Steel and Chinatrust lead TAIEX advancers

Stocks gained, led by banks and insurers, after Chinatrust Financial Holding Co (中信銀金控) said 2002 pretax profit at its banking unit met its expectations.

"This year, financial companies have growth potential after last year's acceleration of bad-loan write-offs," said Frank Ding (丁永炎), who manages a NT$900 million (US$26.1 million) fund at International Investment Trust Co (國際投信).

"As long as there's a bit of good news, that will boost shares of the company and its peers," Ding said.

The TAIEX added 43.25, or 0.9 percent, to close at 4,951.03. The benchmark reversed a drop of as much as 0.7 percent in earlier trading. China Steel Corp (中鋼), the biggest gainer, rallied on expectations an increase in demand will boost prices at the steelmaker.

Chinatrust Financial advanced NT$0.90, or 3 percent, to NT$30.50. Chinatrust Commercial Bank (中國信託銀行) reported pretax profit surged last year by two-thirds to NT$15.1 billion from NT$9.13 billion in the previous year, Chinatrust said in a statement. The bank met its pretax forecast of NT$15.02 billion for last year.

China Steel gained NT$1.50, or 6.7 percent, to NT$24.

Steelmakers in South Korea, Taiwan and China may benefit from rising steel prices as demand for processed products such as galvanized steel grows in China, according to Fubon Securities Investment Trust Co's (富邦投信) research report.

The value of trade was NT$84.7 billion, in line with the daily average in the past three months.

Cathay Real Estate Development Co (國泰建設) rose NT$0.15, or 1.7 percent, to NT$8.75. The company said it paid NT$1.19 billion for a property acquisition in Taipei's Wen-san district.

Fuh-Hwa Financial Holdings Co (復華金控) climbed NT$0.70, or 6.3 percent, to NT$11.90. The company expects its banking unit to turn to a pretax profit this year after last year's loss, local media reported over the weekend.

Nan Ya Plastics Corp (南亞塑膠) rose NT$1.10, or 3 percent, to NT$37.30. The plastics maker may benefit from rising prices of phthalic anhydride, a compound used in the manufacture of phthaleins and other dyes, resins, plasticizers and insecticides, after China imposed anti-dumping penalty tariffs on producers of the chemical in South Korea, Japan and India, a local newspaper reported, citing unidentified people.

Taiwan Semiconductor Manuf-acturing Co (台積電) fell NT$0.90, or 1.8 percent, to NT$47.90. The chipmaker, which gets about three-quarters of its sales from the US, fell after signs of slowing US economic growth raised concern that demand for the nation's products will remain sluggish.

US consumer confidence fell this month and industrial production dropped in December. Crude oil prices rose to their highest in more than two years on Jan. 17 after the US said it has proof Iraq is hindering UN weapons inspectors.

Winbond Electronics Corp (華邦電子) fell NT$0.60, or 3.8 percent, to NT$15.40 after the spot price of a 256-megabit, 266-megahertz double-data-rate dynamic random-access memory chip dropped 4.4 percent on Jan. 17, the biggest one-day drop since Dec. 4, according to the Web site dramexchange.com.