Taiwan stocks rose 0.57 percent on Friday, bouncing from a one-month low, as small-cap growth issues like Cheng Uei stole the spotlight from tech blue chips that had suffered heavy selling by offshore investors.
The main TAIEX share index was mostly flat in early trade but buying intensified by noon. The index ended up 40.12 points at 7,074.15 but it lost 2.8 percent this week. "Smaller consumer plays that have better earnings outlooks are the focus now and we have seen some of them are on the radar screens of foreign brokerages," said Albert Lin, manager at Jih Sun Investment Consulting Co.
Among the most actively traded shares by turnover, Cheng Uei Precision Industry Co Ltd, which makes components for Microsoft Corp's Xbox game consoles, surged the daily 7 percent maximum to a new record. With ample liquidity, investors should stand on the buy side at the current level, said Daniel Tseng, manager at Fubon Securities. Total turnover was flat with Thursday at T$106.42 billion (US $3.34 billion), partly as the market has largely priced in the island's steady first-quarter GDP data.
Smartphone maker High Tech Computer Corp jumped 3.57 percent, and Novatek Microelectronics Corp, a maker of IC drives for LCD TVs, shot up 3.35 percent, helping the electronics sub-index 0.54 percent higher. The financial sector gained 1.48 percent. Index heavyweight Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC), the world's top contract chip maker and a darling of foreign funds, finished unchanged.
Display screen maker AU Optronics Corp was off 0.59 percent despite a report saying that its colour filter unit is likely to merge with rival Allied Material Technology Corp But Allied Material shares went limit-up. Taiwan Fire & Marine Insurance Co Ltd rose 1.82 percent after a newspaper reported said China's insurance supervisory committee had approved a long-awaited application by the company to set up a representative office in Shanghai.