tw stock 0326

14:33 26Mar09 RTRS-Taiwan stocks end at 5-1/2-month highs on DRAM surge * Market gains for 4th straight session as DRAM shares jump * UMC surges on Wall St gains, report of rising capacity * Market turnover at highest in 10 months (Adds quotes) By Gina Chang TAIPEI, March 26 (Reuters) - Taiwan stocks rose 0.75 percent on Thursday to 5-1/2-month closing highs, with DRAM shares rallying after the island's largest DRAM maker Powerchip <5346.two> said the sector was likely to face shortages in the third quarter. The main TAIEX share index <.TWII> climbed 40.18 points to 5,386.56, finishing up for a fourth straight session and logging its highest close since Oct. 7. The TAIEX hit an intraday high of 5,422.95 in early trade, but gains were pared as investors booked profits from a 9 percent rise on the market so far this week. The semiconductor sub-index <.TSII> rose 0.52 percent while the electronics sub-index <.TELI> gained 0.78 percent. Shares of Powerchip and smaller rivals Nanya Tech <2408.tw> and ProMOS <5387.two> rose by their 7 percent daily limit by the close. Powerchip's chairman said on Wednesday the global computer memory chip sector was likely to face shortages in the third quarter, signalling the industry could be bottoming out from its worst-ever downturn. [ID:nTP333464] [ID:nSEO321330] "The downward trend of DRAM supply is unchanged. But there's a gap between the chairman's estimate for demand and ours," said Bevan Yeh, a senior fund manager of Prudential Financial Securities Investment Trust. "We think there will be a rebound in DRAM product prices, but that will likely be a limited one." Shares of UMC <2303.tw>, the world's No.2 contract chip maker, finished limit-up after its ADRs rallied 12.7 percent on Wednesday. Local media cited equipment suppliers on Thursday saying that UMC's capacity utilisation rate will likely exceed 60 percent in April, helped by orders from Mediatek <2454.tw> and other companies. Turnover rose to a 10-month high of T$147.5 billion ($4.4 billion) ahead of the central bank's decision on interest rates later in the day. Turnover was at T$146.9 billion a day earlier. A majority of economists expect Taiwan to cut interest rates by another 25 basis points to a new low to try and spur the economy. [nTP331929] "I don't think the central bank needs to cut rates again since Taiwan's economy is showing signs of recovery," said Michael On, a managing director of Beyond Asset Management. "Even if it does, the cut should be limited and wouldn't have much impact on the stock market tomorrow." HOT STOCKS -- Powertech Technology Inc <6239.tw> rose 1.78 percent after sources said the firm and wafer maker Shin-Etsu Chemical Co Ltd <4063.t> are among five business partners planning to help finance struggling Japanese chipmaker Elpida Memory Inc <6665.t>. [ID:nT370361] --------------------TAIEX IN PERSPECTIVE-------------------- Move on day 0.75 percent Close on day 5,386.56 2009 intraday high 5,422.95 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$33.8) (Editing by Muralikumar Anantharaman) ((gina.chang@thomsonreuters.com; +886 2 2508-0815; Reuters Messaging:gina.chang.thomsonreuters.come@reuters.com)) ((If you have a query or comment on this story, send an email to news.feedback.asia@thomsonreuters.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/
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