Taiwan shares ended 0.69 percent higher on Friday, led by gains in technology stocks like TSMC and Acer Inc as global markets recovered from concerns over rising interest rates in China. The main TAIEX share index closed up 54.04 points at 7,942.67, reclaiming some of the ground it lost on Thursday.
The TAIEX rose to a 6-1/2-year closing high of 8,084.45 points last week. "The rebound in momentum isn't that strong today, and China will definitely find a way next month to prevent its economy from over-heating, which could hit Asian markets," said Sinopac Securities manager Alvin Teng.
"We don't advise investors to chase stocks right now," said Teng, who expects the index to trade between 7,900 and 8,000 next week, and warns that it could fall below 7,800 in May. The heavily weighted electronics sub-index rose 0.81 percent, while the financial sub-index gained 0.38 percent. Turnover was moderate at T$92.39 billion ($2.8 billion), down from T$108.29 billion the previous day.
Acer shares rose 0.79 percent after the Economic Daily, citing Gartner data, reported the company surpassed Lenovo in the first quarter of 2006 to become the world's third-largest PC seller, with 306,000 more unit sales than its mainland rival.
Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC), the world's largest contract chip maker, rose 0.15 percent, while smaller rival United Microelectronics Corp advanced 0.26 percent. Major Taiwan tech firms are set to report first-quarter earnings in late April and early May.
China United Trust & Investment Co (CUTIC) jumped the daily 7 percent maximum, after Taiwan's top financial regulator said that a foreign firm had expressed interest in investing T$10 billion in the company.
The company interested in investing in struggling CUTIC is AGF Management Ltd, a Canadian management company, the Economic Daily reported, without citing sources. Memory chip maker Nanya Technology Corp ended unchanged ahead of its first-quarter earning results expected later today.