Taiwan shares finish higher on Wall Street gains

Taipei, July 29, 2003 (CENS)--Taiwan shares closed up yesterday, on the back of the latest gains on Wall Street, analyst said.

The weighted price index of the Taiwan Stock Exchange rose 57.05 points, or 1.1%, to 5451.08, dealer said. Advancers well outnumbered decliners 477 to 199, while 69 issues remained unchanged. The last time the main index closed higher was June 21, 2002, when it finished at 5460.53.

Share prices surged in large part due to Wall Street's strong showing Friday. The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 1.9%, while the Nasdaq Composite index was down 1.7%.

However, the market failed to fully sustain its early gains due to profit-taking, especially in electronics products, specially in technology sector.

The electronic sector ended up 0.35% during the session.

United Microelectronics closed up NT$0.20 to NT$25 ahead its second-quarter earnings reports tomorrow, while Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing was up NT$1 to NT$58.

Of other sectors, financials were up 0.5%, auto sector was up 5.90%, rubber issues gained 5.83%, and the cement sector was up 5.71%.

China Development Financial Holding, however, was down NT$0.50 to NT$12.85 after revising its 2003 pretax profit to a heavy loss. Chinatrust Financial Holding was up NT$0.30 to NT$27.

Yulon Motor surged NT$2.40 to NT$42.10, while China Motor went limit-up NT$4 to NT$66.

The price index of the over-the-counter market edged down 0.02 of a point to 112.77 in dealings valued at NT$19,42 billion.

August index futures on Taiwan's futures exchange market closed up 93 points to 5477 on turnover of 26,258 lots. August electronics futures gained 2.50 points to 242.50 on turnover of 4,579 lots, while August financial futures rose3.60 points to 724.60 on turnover of 3,473 lots.