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Shares end higher, with pullback in tech sector

Shares ended marginally higher yesterday, with a pullback in the technology sector eroding gains in selected non-technology shares.

The TAIEX finished up 6.15 points, or 0.1 percent, at 5,937.46. Decliners led advancers 364 to 295, with 126 stocks unchanged.

Turnover slowed to NT$63.58 billion (US$1.9 billion).

"Worries about higher oil prices and a murky outlook for the information technology industry spurred profit-taking in tech stocks after their recent rally," said Hsiuli Lee, a manager at Franklin Templeton First Taiwan.

The benchmark index rose nearly 5 percent between Tuesday and Friday last week as overseas investors snapped up stocks ahead of an upgrade in Taiwan's limited investibility factor in Morgan Stanley Capital International's global indexes.

The technology subindex closed down 0.4 percent, led by chip stocks.

Prices of dynamic random access memory chips "already peaked in October and now we're moving into the slow season," said James Huang, chip analyst at SinoPac Securities (建華證券) in Taipei.

Powerchip Semiconductor Corp (力晶半導體), the nation's largest memory chipmaker, slipped 1.7 percent to NT$22.90.

Rally

Shares in the world's second-biggest contract chipmaker, United Microelectronics Corp (聯電), fell 0.9 percent to NT$21 after rallying more than 9 percent in the previous seven sessions.

Industry leader Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (台積電) finished up 0.4 percent at NT$47.90.

Financial shares gained yesterday on continued hopes of a government-backed consolidation in the sector, analysts said.

Shares in Mega Financial Holding (兆豐金控) advanced 0.4 percent to NT$22.90 and First Financial Holding (第一金控) rose 0.7 percent to NT$27.90.
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