Taiwan stocks led by TSMC dividend

Taiwan stocks ended firmer on Wednesday as local investors snapped up small-cap construction shares while market heavyweight TSMC propped up the index with solid gains after setting a generous dividend policy. The TAIEX share index finished with a 0.23 percent gain to 6,001.52, but came off gains of nearly one percent that had put the index at a one-month intraday high.
"TSMC held up the market while construction shares charged higher," said Richard Tsai, senior vice president in charge of research at Grand Cathay Securities.
"If every other electronics firm adopted their policy, we could be sure that the market has already hit bottom," he said. "Investors would be less concerned about next year's weakening fundamentals."
Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC), the index's most heavily weighted issue, rose 1.01 percent to T$49.80 in active trade after setting a policy of issuing at least half its annual dividend in cash.
Taiwan's tech firms have favoured dividends in the form of shares as this leaves them with more cash for expensive equipment purchases, but investors complain of diluted earnings.
While TSMC's main competitor, United Microelectronics Corp added 0.51 percent, cheer failed to spread through the rest of the electronics sector despite strong gains in US shares after a broker upgrade to giant Intel Corp.
AU Optronics, the world's No 3 display panel maker, lost 2.42 percent to close at T$44.40, after South Korea's LG.Philips LCD Co Ltd, the world's second-largest maker, said prices could fall faster than expected.
LG Philips shares were down more than 6 percent on Wednesday.
The session's top gainers were mostly small-capitalisation shares like construction firms as domestic fund managers pumped up share prices to boost their year-end performance statistics.
BES Engineering Corp gained 1.53 percent to T$6.65 and was the day's fourth most actively traded issue, while Hung Sheng Construction surged 5.49 percent to T$17.30.
Market turnover was modest at T$68.9 billion, though that was up from T$53.9 billion in Tuesday's session.
The over-the-counter market's TAISDAQ index dipped 0.09 point, or 0.08 percent, to close at 112.78, while January TAIEX index futures added 47 points, or 0.79 percent, for a finish at 6,025.