Taiwan stocks edged up 0.03 percent on Friday to a fresh six-month closing high, with TSMC leading chip makers higher on government plans to let them build factories in China using advanced process technology. The main TAIEX share index struggled to find direction through the session, finishing at 7,259.54.
So far this month, the benchmark index has gained 3.4 percent gain. Among the most active, the electronics sub-index rose 0.04 percent and the financial sub-index rose 0.17 percent. Trading was slightly lower at T$105.4 billion (US $3.2 billion), compared with T$109.0 billion a day earlier. Market heavyweight Taiwan Semicondutor Manufacturing Co Ltd (TSMC), the world's top contract chip maker, ended up 0.32 percent. The news on China investment comes amid worries over higher stockpiles among its customers.
Semiconductor Manufacturing International Corp (SMIC), China's biggest and the world's number-three contract chip maker, trails behind TSMC and United KS. Memory chip makers Powerchip Semiconductor Corp rose 0.72 percent and ProMOS Technologies Inc gained 2.79 percent, due partly to growing optimism over computer demand after the planned launch of new Vista operating system.