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Shares about even as textile, paper firms erode gains

Shares closed little changed yesterday as late profit-taking eroded gains spurred by Wall Street's overnight advance and purchases by institutional investors, dealers said.

They said a firmer local currency bolstered expectations of further capital inflows, as companies with solid operations in China outperformed amid a surge on the Hong Kong and China stock markets.

However, textile and paper companies slipped on late profit-taking.

The TAIEX closed down 1.70 points at 9,411.95, while turnover was NT$171.62 billion (US$5.25 billion).

Decliners outnumbered advancers 950 to 864, with 246 stocks unchanged.

On the foreign exchange market, the New Taiwan dollar ended NT$0.158 higher at NT$32.667 against the US dollar, its highest finish in more than two months because of central bank intervention and demand by foreign fund managers, dealers said.

SinoPac Securities (永豐金證券) assistant vice president Alvin Teng (鄧可欣) said profit-taking outpaced the momentum set by New York earlier as well as end-of-quarter buying by local institutional investors.

"Thanks to Wall Street's advance, the domestic market managed more end-quarter [buying] before late selling set in to offset the early rises," Teng said.

For the week to Friday, the weighted index closed up 306.67 points, or 3.37 percent, after a 0.82 percent increase a week earlier.

Average daily turnover stood at NT$170.85 billion, compared with NT$142.18 billion a week ago, according to stock exchange tallies.
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