Taiwan stocks rose 0.97 percent on Monday to a fresh eight-month closing high, led by property and financial shares, on hopes of an influx of Chinese investment and a boost from a stronger Taiwan dollar. The main TAIEX share index closed 63.63 points higher at 6,647.50, its strongest finish since September 8, 2008, and following solid gains on Wall Street.
Cathay Real Estate and Farglory, the island's leading real estate developers, both ended by their 7 percent daily limit. The local market has gained about 19 percent over the past eight sessions, its longest winning streak in nearly 2-1/2 years. Turnover was active at T$189.6 billion ($5.8 billion), but lower than T$197.9 billion in the previous session.
The construction sub-index jumped 5.41 percent, spurred by hopes that mainland Chinese investors could be allowed to buy real estate for personal use in Taiwan in coming weeks. Taiwan's government is also looking into plans to relax restrictions for property developers to invest in China, a local newspaper reported on Monday.
Shares of Cathay Real Estate, Farglory and other companies with sizable land assets also received a lift from rises in the Taiwan dollar as the currency's appreciation increases the value of their assets. "The market continued to rise as there's ample liquidity in the market. The Taiwan dollar's gain also boosted financial shares and asset plays," said Eddy Chen, a vice president of National Investment Trust Co.
"But sharp gains in many shares have prevented investors from chasing these stocks in the short term." The banking and insurance sub-index rose 3.62 percent, following a 70 percent jump so far since a trough in March as investors bet on their growing profits amid closer China ties. Cathay Financial, Taiwan's top listed financial holding company, was up 6.39 percent.
Mega Financial SinoPac Financial rose 3 percent and 5.32 percent, respectively, after a newspaper said both firms were contemplating a joint bid to take up to 40 percent of Shanghai-based First Sino Bank. In the tech sector, UMC, the world's No 2 contract chipmaker, ended flat while larger rival TSMC dged down 0.18 percent.
Last Friday, TSMC and UMC both posted rising sales growth for April on a monthly basis. Both the semiconductor sub-index and the electronics sub-index ended flat for the session. Chip packager ASE climbed 2.46 percent after a newspaper cited senior company executives as saying Intel was planning to outsource chip testing and packaging work to ASE.
Acer, the world's third-largest PC brand, fell 1.12 percent after Merrill Lynch downgraded the company's rating to "underperform" from "buy" on Monday. Despite the day's advances, investors were seen pocketing gains after a recent surge in the market, with analysts warning of a further pull-back in the near term. Gains could also be capped this week with Taiwan's main opposition party set to stage demonstrations on Sunday to protest against government policies ahead of President Ma Ying-jeou's inauguration anniversary on May 20.