Shares ended flat yesterday, with investors concerned over potential tax hikes after President Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁) said the government aims to beef up its tax revenue.
The TAIEX finished up 2.04 points, or 0.03 percent, at 6,011.56. It was nonetheless the index's strongest close since 6,024.07 on April 8.
Turnover totaled NT$73.76 billion (US$2.35 billion), expanding from Monday's NT$57.82 billion. Decliners outnumbered gainers 444 to 371, while 196 stocks ended flat.
Taiwan's upgrade in Morgan Stanley Capital International's indexes, which took effect after market hours yesterday, also sparked worries that foreign buying would start to decline, dealers said. Anticipation of the weighting adjustment fueled foreign interest in Taiwan stocks in previous sessions, sending the local currency to trade higher against its US counterpart.
The NT dollar rose NT$0.033 to close at NT$31.363 against the US dollar on the Taipei foreign exchange market yesterday.
Among the most active shares, chip designer VIA Technologies Inc (威盛) extended gains, ending 3.3 percent higher at NT$20.4. Rival Silicon Integrated Systems Corp (
Index heavyweight Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (台積電), the world's biggest contract chipmaker, was up 0.4 percent at NT$56.9, while its smaller rival United Microelectronics Corp (聯電) dropped 1.9 percent to NT$21.2.
Some traders had expected technology stocks to rise on the opening of Computex, one of the world's top three computer shows, in Taipei yesterday.
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