Shares up in light trading

Shares ended slightly higher Tuesday as bargain hunting countered worries over climbing crude prices, dealers said.

The TAIEX finished up 8.36 points, or 0.1 percent, at 5,986.20. The value of trading dwindled to NT$66.21 billion (US$1.97 billion) from NT$74.65 billion on Monday. There were 566 decliners, 225 gainers and 179 unchanged issues.

In line with the falling stocks, the New Taiwan dollar moved down against its US counterpart, declining NT$0.056 to close at NT$33.445 on the Taipei foreign exchange market.

The weighted index also gained after Morgan Stanley told investors to buy the nation's equities and on news that the government promises of financial reform.

Morgan Stanley advised investors to raise their stakes in Taiwanese companies by 3.6 percentage points to 16 percent of funds invested in Asian equities outside of Japan. The brokerage recommended shares of MediaTek Inc (聯發科技), Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) and SinoPac Holdings Co (建華金控).

MediaTek, the world's largest maker of chips for DVD players, added 1 percent to NT$313. TSMC, the world's largest supplier of made-to-order chips, rose 0.9 percent to NT$56.50. SinoPac, which is about one-third owned by overseas investors, gained 0.6 percent to NT$17.60.

Chi Mei Optoelectronics Corp (奇美電子) led the fall in flat panel stocks, tumbling 5.2 percent to NT$63.50 after Beijing called founder Hsu Wen-lung (許文龍) an anti-China bigot and said he wasn't welcome to do business there.

The Chi Mei Group runs a massive petrochemical plant in China and plans to open an electronics factory there.

AU Optronics Corp (友達光電), the country's largest flat panel display maker, fell 1.7 percent to NT$59, while Quanta Display Inc (廣輝電子) shed 0.8 percent to NT$24.50. Taiwanese producers will lower prices on large screens this month amid increased production, SinoPac Securities said.