Taiwan stocks ended 0.15 percent higher on Wednesday, as investors ignored the island's poor GDP data and bought shares of technology exporters such as chip designer Mediatek following a weakening Taiwan dollar. The main TAIEX share index finished up 6.59 points at 4,498.37, reversing course around the last hour of trade. The market bounced back from a 2 percent fall in the previous session.
The tourism sub-index jumped 2.5 percent after a local report said Shao Qiwei, chairman of China's National Tourism Administration, was set to visit Taiwan, and the number of Chinese travel agencies organising tours to the island could increase.
Turnover was light at T$62.9 billion ($1.8 billion), slightly lower than Tuesday's T$63.6 billion. The electronics sub-index gained 0.48 percent, while Mediatek jumped 2.36 percent after a local newspaper cited the firm as saying its profit margins will climb by 0.5 percentage points for every 1 percent depreciation of the Taiwan dollar. Mediatek also told Reuters on Wednesday that it was aiming to ship more chips for mobile phones this year.
"A weaker Taiwan dollar will only be a short-term boost to tech exporters. We still aren't seeing demand rising. Besides, the weak currency might prompt foreign fund outflows," said John Chiu, a vice president of Fuh Hwa Securities Investment Trust.
Chiu expected the TAIEX market to trade between 4,200-4,600 points for the rest of the week. Acer, the world's third-largest PC brand, was also lifted after saying it plans to break into the top five of smartphone makers in five years' time. But ProMOS Technologies, Taiwan's No 3 DRAM maker, dropped by its daily 7 percent limit after saying some 97.4 percent of the holders of an overseas convertible bond (ECB) it issued previously had applied for redemptions.
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