Taiwan's shares ended higher Tuesday, buoyed by expectations of a pre-election stock market rally, with construction and financial shares leading the gains, analysts said.
The benchmark index of the Taiwan Stock Exchange closed up 72.42 points, or 1.1 percent, to 6973.90.
Advancers outnumbered decliners 558 to 268 with 147 stocks unchanged in trading valued at NT$130.02 billion, down from Monday's NT$153.89 billion.
"The local bourse posted gains after experiencing seesawing trade earlier, as investors chose to stand in the bulls' camp amid expectations of pre-election gains," said Jose Lee, an analyst at First Taisec Securities (一銀證券).
However, with trading volume still dwindling, there are signs that investors are becoming cautious, analysts said.
"The key index will likely record volatile trade before the election," said Lee, predicting a range of 6800-7300 points in the near term.
Outpacing all other sectors, construction shares soared 3.1 percent overall after a local newspaper yesterday reported around NT$100 billion worth of houses will go on sale on March 29.
Shares of Kuoyang Construction (國揚建設) advanced 6.5 percent to NT$11.4.
Financial shares rose 2.5 percent as a whole, with bellwether Cathay Financial Holding (國泰金控) up 5.5 percent at NT$67.5.
Shares of flat-panel makers took the lead amid an upbeat outlook for the flat-panel industry.
Chi Mei Optoelectronics Corp (
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