Taiwan stocks ended up 0.92 percent at a more than one-month closing high on Thursday, with AU Optronics outperforming after the LCD company said it was considering building a panel plant in China. The main TAIEX share index closed 64.88 points higher at 7,104.65, a level not seen since July 28. Turnover was T$138 billion ($4.2 billion), more active than Wednesday's T$130 billion.
AU Optronics shares rose 2.29 percent and rival Chi Mei Optoelectronics shot up 4.89 percent, pushing the optoelectronics sub-index 1.7 percent higher. AU Optronics, the world's No 3 LCD maker, said it had received invitations from several city governments in China to set up a new panel plant on the mainland. Chi Mei optoelectronics told Reuters it expects to supply 40 percent of the panels needed by LCD TVs with Chinese brand names.
"Taiwan's LCD makers probably felt more desperate than ever to gain market share in China, after their larger Korean peers took a step ahead to announce plans to build fabs in China," said Michael On, a managing director at Beyond Asset Management. On said the main index was seen entering a brief period of consolidation in the next couple of days, with the overall upbeat sentiment likely to remain, underpinned by institutional buying.
"Most technology exporters reported better-than-expected second quarter earnings, and some people believe the gain would wind its way through the third quarter as the sector enters a peak season," added. On Foreign institutions had bought a net of T$13.3 billion ($404 million) in Taiwan stocks over the past two sessions, with most money flowing into technology shares, said analysts.
Compal, the world's No 2 contract laptop PC maker, advanced 4.07 percent on a newspaper report that it had received orders from Nokia to manufacture 100,000 netbooks. Compal will hold its second-quarter investor conference on Friday. However, electronics parts giant Hon Hai lost 1.63 percent after investors locked in recent profits. Hon Hai rose more than 9 percent over the past two sessions.