Export figures help boost tech stocks as TAIEX gains 1%

Stocks rose for a second day yesterday. Exporters such as Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (台積電, TSMC) and AU Optronics Corp (友達光電) advanced after a report showed a better-than- expected gain in export orders last month.

The TAIEX added 60.21, or 1 percent, to 5,911.31. The index gained 1.2 percent in two sessions.

Futures due in December rose 1.1 percent to 5,905. More than two stocks rose for every one that declined.

Export orders rose 25 percent from a year earlier, exceeding the median 23 percent gain forecast in a Bloomberg News survey of six economists. Orders rose at the slowest pace in nine months.

Chunghwa Telecom Co (中華電信) gained NT$2, or 3.3 percent, to NT$62. Chunghwa Telecom is the fourth-biggest new holding by at least one of the top 25 US investment companies, according to data compiled by Bloomberg based on company filings, in the third quarter.

Top US investment companies bought US$663.2 million worth of Chunghwa Telecom shares in the US, according to filings.

TSMC, the world's largest supplier of made-to-order computer chips, rose 50 cents, or 1 percent, to NT$48.90.

AU Optronics Corp, the nation's largest maker of flat-panel displays used in computers and televisions, rose NT$1.30, or 3.3 percent, to NT$40.80.

China Steel Corp (中鋼) rose NT$1.30, or 3.9 percent, to NT$35 in anticipation the company will raise prices for its customers because of higher demand for industrial products.

Yulon Motor Co. (裕隆) rose NT$0.60, or 1.7 percent, to NT$35.10.