Taiwan stocks rose 1.67 percent to a more than one-week closing high on Wednesday, as investors bought beaten-down shares including Cathay Real Estate and as major laptop PC makers jumped on hopes of rising orders. The main TAIEX share index closed up 116.37 points at 7,080.97, its highest finish since August 15, following a 0.94 percent slide in the previous session.
Turnover was soft at T$94.5 billion ($3 billion), but up from the previous session's T$59.7 billion, its lowest level so far this year. "Today's gains come mostly from shares of builders and solar cell makers, as they fell too much, too quickly," said Bevan Yeh, a senior manager of Prudential Financial Securities Investment Trust.
Cathay Real Estate Development jumped 2.29 percent and the construction sub-index rose 2.24 percent. Taiwan's top solar cell maker Motech Industries rose by its daily 7 percent limit.
Kevin Yang, president of Paradigm Asset Management Co Ltd, said notebook computer makers such as Inventec and cellphone makers are expected to receive more orders in the annual peak season in the third quarter. "Inventec will receive 30 percent more orders in the third quarter from the second quarter," said Yang, adding that he expected the TAIEX to trade between 6,900-7,300 points this week. Laptop PC maker Inventec advanced 1.66 percent, and Mediatek, which designs chips for cellphones, climbed 4.56 percent. The electronics sub-index gained 2.22 percent.
Cathay Financial, Taiwan's No 1 listed financial holding firm, jumped 2.85 percent, boosting the financial sub-index by 1.72 percent. Cathay's gain came after the company said on Tuesday its investment in collateralised bond obligations (CBO) totalled T$25.68 billion ($815 million) in the second quarter, flat from the previous three months. But Prudential's Yeh remained cautious about the outlook for financial shares.