TW Stock 20 Oct

14:59 20Oct2008 RTRS-Taiwan stocks hits over 5-yr low, but Fubon Fin gains

* Market hits over 5-year low despite Asian rally
* Fubon Fin limit-up after buying ING Taiwan life unit
* Electronics shares fall before Q3 earnings results

(Adds details)
TAIPEI, Oct 20 (Reuters) - Taiwan stocks fell 0.58 percent on
Monday to their lowest close in more than five years as investors
dumped tech heavyweights like TSMC <2330.TW> to play catch-up
with other Asian markets that had seen more dramatic falls.
Taiwan's main TAIEX share index <.TWII> had dropped more than
3 percent at one point before government-related funds kicked in
to buy financial shares. The TAIEX closed down 28.56 points at
4,931.84.
It bucked the trend in a day where most other Asian markets
rallied on the back of attractive valuations.
One of the few bright spots was Fubon Financial <2881.TW>,
which went limit up after it announced that it would buy Dutch
financial group ING's Taiwan life insurance unit
[nHKG273708].
However, Fubon shares have fallen 15.5 percent since the
beginning of this month.
Turnover was soft at T$41.03 billion ($1.26 billion), but
higher than Thursday's T$28.6 billion, as investors stayed away
ahead of a slew of third-quarter earnings from Taiwan companies.
"The recently installed measures haven't done much to restore
confidence in investors and more will probably need to be done to
attract investors to return to the market," said Michael On,
managing director of Beyond Asset Management.
Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co Ltd (TSMC) , the
market's most active stocks by both turnover and volume, fell
1.67 percent. TSMC is widely expected to report weaker
third-quarter earnings next week amid a slow global economy.
"The rebound in today's market is probably due to government
intervention when they started buying shares in financial
companies, driving the index up," On said.
The stock market, which is now at its lowest level since June
2003, had been unable to fall then due to the 3.5 percent down
limit imposed by the government, a move that has been extended
into the coming week [ID:nTP266416].
The electronics index <.TELI> was down 0.32 percent, while
the semiconductor index <.TSII> closed down 0.22 percent.
The broader financial sub-index fell 0.71 percent.

--------------------TAIEX IN PERSPECTIVE--------------------
Move on day -0.58 percent
Close on day 4,931.84
2008 intraday high 9,309.95
2008 intraday low 4,805.68
All time high 12,682.41 12 FEB 1990
------------------------------------------------------------
For a table of foreign trading in Taiwan stocks, double-click
on [ID:nTP170358]
(US$1=T$32.6)
((Reporting by Kelvin Soh; +886 2 2508-0815))
ASIA-PACIFIC STOCK MARKETS:
Pan-Asia......[STXNEWS/AS] Japan........[.T] S.Korea....[.KS]
S.E. Asia............[.SO] Hong Kong...[.HK] Taiwan.....[.TW]
Australia/NZ.........[.AX] India.......[.BO] China......[.SS]
OTHER MARKETS:
Wall Street...........[.N] Gold.........[GOL/] Currency..[FRX/]
Eurostocks...........[.EU] Oil...........[O/R] JP bonds...[JP/]
ADR Report..........[ADR/] LME metals..[MET/L] US bonds...[US/]
Stocks News US...[STXNEWS/US] Stocks News Europe...[STXNEWS/EU]
DIARIES & DATA:
IPO diary & data Asia earnings diary [ASIA/EQTY]
U.S. earnings diary [RESF/US] European diary [WEU/EQTY]
Taiwan diary [TW/DIARY] Wall Street Week Ahead [.N/O]
Eurostocks Week Ahead [.EU/O] World forecasts
TOP NEWS:
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Other indices <0#.INX.TW> TAISDAQ <.TWOII><.TV.TWO>
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Keywords: MARKETS TAIWAN STOCKS

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Monday, 20 October 2008 14:59:39RTRS [nTP281114] {EN}ENDS