Taiwan stocks ended up 0.5 percent at a 14-month high on Thursday, and Taiwan Mobile shares outperformed after the company bought Carlyle Group's cable TV unit in Taiwan. The main TAIEX finished 37.06 points higher at 7,477.30. Shares of Taiwan Mobile, the island's No 2 telecom operator, surged 6.67 percent to a more than 2-month closing high. The electronics sub-index rose 0.27 percent.
Taiwan Mobile had agreed to pay $1 billion for Carlyle's Taiwan cable TV unit in a share swap deal and after Bank of America upgraded the firm to "buy" from "neutral". US stocks rose for a third day on Wednesday, as US industrial output advanced for a second consecutive month in August, while a government report showed a bigger-than-expected drop in crude inventories last week, indicating higher demand. But technology shares curbed the main index's gain. The technology sub-index had risen more than 70 percent since the beginning of this year.
Turnover was active at T$147 billion ($4.5 billion), up from Wednesday's T$132 billion. The glass and ceramic sub-index was the market's top gainer, jumping 5.65 percent. Taiwan Glass, the island's largest glass maker, surged nearly 7 percent on a media report it will spend T$16 billion to build a new factory in China, the company's largest-ever investment.
Construction shares shot up 3.25 percent after a local newspaper reported that average prices of a luxury mansion project in Taipei hit a record T$700 million. Real estate developer Farglory jumped 5.51 percent. "Asset-related shares outperformed today, as investors bought construction shares to retain value in a stronger Taiwan dollar," Tseng said. The banking and insurance sub-index climbed 1.27 percent, with Chinatrust Financial up 4.74 percent.