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14:17 05Mar09 RTRS-Taiwan stocks at 2-mth closing high on China comments * Market rises for 3rd day on Wall St, China remarks * Tourism shares jump on expectation of more Chinese tourists * DRAM shares up ahead of government comments * Hon Hai gains after increasing workers in China By Gina Chang (Adds details and quotes) TAIPEI, March 5 (Reuters) - Taiwan stocks rose 2.11 percent on Thursday to a two-month closing high after a Wall Street rally and as China's stimulus package triggered strong buying in tourism issues including hotel chain operator Formosa Hotel. The main TAIEX share index <.TWII> ended up 95.78 points at 4,637.20, marking its strongest close since Jan. 7 and extending a 3 percent gain over the previous two sessions. Turnover was active at T$106.8 billion ($3.1 billion), marking the market's busiest session in almost seven months and rising sharply from Wednesday's T$88.6 billion. "Positive effects from China's stimulus package and the mainland's subsidies in home electronics products and car purchases will continue to support related Taiwan stocks," said Karen Lin, a fund manager of Paradigm Asset Management. "Recent rush orders also helped tech companies with their February sales. But we need to watch if there will be more regular orders in the future and if sector visibility improves," she said. Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao said on Thursday that China was ready to talk with Taiwan on political and military issues, though Taiwan said it wanted economic deals before political ones. [ID:nPEK89714] The biggest winner was the tourism sub-index <.THOI>, surging 6.21 percent. A local newspaper said on Thursday Beijing was planning to launch a project with 1 million mainland tourists visiting Taiwan, in a move that could generate T$50 billion in business opportunities. Shares of Formosa Hotel <2707.tw> jumped 5.64 percent and smaller rival Leofoo Development Co <2705.tw> rose by its 7 percent limit. Financial shares also rose on hopes that improving cross-strait relations will help them expand business in China. The financial sub-index <.TFNI> rose 3.15 percent, with Cathay Financial <2882.tw>, the island's top listed financial holding firm, 2.57 percent higher. In the DRAM sector, Taiwan's top DRAM maker Powerchip <5346.two> jumped 5.96 percent. Smaller rivals Nanya Tech <2408.tw> and ProMOS <5387.two> gained 0.63 percent and 5.13 percent, respectively. Minutes after the market close, Taiwan's government said it would hold less than a 50 percent stake in a new company that aims to overhaul the island's struggling DRAM sector. [nTPU001172] Hon Hai <2317.tw>, Taiwan's top electronics gear maker, jumped 5 percent after saying it had increased its China workforce by 5 percent and would be diversifying its product line to include software services. [ID:nTP22538] The electronics sub-index <.TELI> gained 1.88 percent. HOT STOCKS -- AU Optronics <2409.tw>, the world's No. 3 flat panel maker, rose 2.33 percent. AU said it plans to recruit about 1,500 new employees this year, as part of its long-term development strategy. [nTPU001170] Smaller rival Chi Mei <3009.tw> jumped 4.78 percent. -- Chip designer Mediatek <2454.tw> fell 0.83 percent after UBS downgraded its rating on the Taiwan firm to "neutral" from "buy." [nTP102070] --------------------TAIEX IN PERSPECTIVE-------------------- Move on day 2.11 percent Close on day 4,637.20 2009 intraday high 4,817.44 2009 intraday low 4,164.19 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$34.9) (Reporting by Gina Chang, Editing by Jacqueline Wong) ((gina.chang@thomsonreuters.com; +886 2 2508-0815; Reuters Messaging:gina.chang.thomsonreuters.come@reuters.com)) 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: For top Asian company news, double click on: [nTOPEQA] U.S. company news [TOP/EQU] European company news [TOP/EQE] Forex news [TOP/FRX] Global Economy news [TOP/MACRO] Technology news [TOP/TECH] Telecoms news [TOP/TELCO] Media news [TOP/MEDIA] Banking news [TOP/FIN] Politics/General news [TOP/G] Asia Macro data A multimedia version of Reuters Top News is available at: http://topnews.session.rservices.com/ LIVE PRICES & DATA: World Stocks <0#.index> Currency rates Dow Jones/NASDAQ <.DJI> <.IXIC> Nikkei <.N225> FTSE 100 <.FTSE> Debt <0#usbmk=> Taiwan dollar LME price overview TAIWAN MARKET: Taiwan equity mkt TAIEX <.TWII><.TV.TW> Other indices <0#.inx.tw> TAISDAQ <.TWOII><.TV.TWO> TAIMEX Taiwan index futures <0#tx:> MSCI Taiwan index <.MSTW> SIMEX Taiwan index futures <0#stw:> FTSE TW50 index <.FTSETW50> Keywords: MARKETS TAIWAN STOCKS
For Related News, Double Click on one of these codes:[E] [Z] [MF] [PSC] [RNP] [DNP] [PTD] [PMF] [TW] [ASIA] [STX] [EMRG] [LEN] [RTRS] [.TW] [.TWII] [.MSTW] For Relevant Price Information, Double Click on one of these codes:<.TWII> <.MSTW> Thursday, 05 March 2009 14:17:11RTRS [nTP344884] {EN}ENDS