Share prices closed 80.8 points higher yesterday on the last trading day before the Lunar New Year, with the benchmark TAIEX index finishing at 7,441.84 points on turnover of NT$106.71 billion (US$3.33 billion).
This was the 11th consecutive year the TAIEX ended higher on the last trading day of the lunar year. For the whole of the Year of the Ox, the TAIEX rose 75 percent from the previous year.
Following Dow Jones industrial average’s recovery to the benchmark 10,000-point level on Tuesday and mitigated market fears over sovereign defaults in the euro zone, the local bourse opened 77 points higher amid strong buying.
“There was bargain hunting as some investors anticipated a further market rally after the Lunar New Year festival,” Michael Chiang of Taiwan International Securities (金鼎證券) said.
Shares of HTC Corp (宏達電), maker of Google Inc’s Nexus One Android smartphone, rose 3.54 percent to a weekly closing high of NT$307.50 after the company said its board had approved plans to buy back as many as 15 million shares on the open market from yesterday through April 9.
AU Optronics Corp (友達光電), the world’s No. 3 liquid-crystal-display (LCD) panel maker, rose 0.28 percent to NT$36.30 on news that the government had given preliminary approval to the easing of restrictions on LCD investments in China.
Chip, IC testing and IC design shares also traded heavily on news that the government would soon allow investment in China, while shares of traditional businesses, such as steel, textiles, chemicals, and construction, as well as financial shares, rallied on sound fundamentals and an optimistic business outlook.
Acer Inc (宏碁), the world’s second-largest computer vendor, rose 1.63 percent to NT$87.40 after it said fourth-quarter net income climbed 25 percent to NT$3.5 billion.
China Steel Corp (中鋼), Taiwan’s biggest maker of the metal, rose 2.5 percent to NT$32.75 after the company said it posted a pretax profit of NT$4.18 billion last month.
Nanya Technology Corp (南亞科技), the nation’s second-largest memory-chip maker, climbed by the daily limit to close at NT$25.40 as a measure of memory-chip prices rose to the highest level in three weeks. The DXI Index, a measure compiled by chip exchange DRAMeXchange Technology Inc (集邦科技), added 0.9 percent to 3,949.58, its highest since Jan. 18.
Far Eastern New Century Corp (遠東新世紀) rose 6.9 percent to NT$35.55, after Morgan Stanley raised the stock to “overweight” from “equalweight.” Its affiliate, Far Eastern Department Stores Ltd (遠東百貨), also rose 6.9 percent to NT$25.50.
Institutional investors were net sellers of NT$8.377 billion in shares, the 14th consecutive trading session in which they sold more than they bought, Taiwan Stock Exchange data showed.
Analysts said the higher close yesterday on an expanded market turnover of more than NT$100 billion signaled that investors may be bullish when the stock market opens again on Feb. 22 after the 11-day Lunar New Year holiday. However, the local bourse will be influenced largely by world markets, with main factors including the euro zone sovereign debt situation, China’s monetary policy and US economic data, analysts said.
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