Taiwan stocks inched up 0.15 percent on Friday to a fresh eight-week closing high, led by gains in Acer and other heavyweights, as investor confidence continued to get a lift from foreign buying. The TAIEX share index rose 11.57 points to 7,897.91, with the electronics and the financial sub-index both rising less than 0.2 percent.
Turnover shrank to T$114.2 billion ($3.6 billion) versus T$135.9 billion in the prior session, indicating market sentiment turned cautious following a 2 percent gain this week. The rise was boosted by foreign investors' net buying of T$30 billion ($946 million) in the past four sessions.
"The massive foreign buying only pushed the market up 2 percent, raising doubts of further gains and further foreign buying next week," said Tu Jin-lung, chairman of Grand Cathay Investment Services. Heavy technical pressure is seen emerging at 7,920 points next week, Tu said. Acer, the world's No 2 PC brand, climbed 2 percent.
Mediatek, the world's No 2 mobile phone chip designer, was 0.4 percent lower after saying it planned to give out a combined dividend of T$26 in cash and 0.02 share for each share held, which local media said was a record high. Newly merged LCD panel maker Chimei Innolux fell 1 percent.
The firm said it sees capex spending for its 8.5 and 6th generation lines reaching at least T$40 billion this year. Sinopac Financial, a mid-sized financial holding firm, rose 5.6 percent. Sinopac said on Friday it was in talks with a Chinese partner over investing in the Taiwan firm, in the latest sign of easing trade ties between Taiwan and China.