twn stock 0407 937/33.569/ -7.2

14:18 07Apr09 RTRS-Taiwan stocks at 6-mth closing high on China plays * Market rises for 6th straight session on China plays * Financials down before vote on lower credit card rates cap * HTC down after posting weak first-quarter earnings (Adds details and quotes) TAIPEI, April 7 (Reuters) - Taiwan stocks rose 0.37 percent on Tuesday to a six-month closing high, as investors bought property and shipping shares on continued hopes they would benefit from improving ties with China. However, gains were capped as financial shares such as Chinatrust <2891.tw> fell ahead of a potential legislative move to lower the cap on credit card interest rates. The main TAIEX share index <.TWII> closed 20.63 points higher at 5,576.85, its best finish since Oct. 3. The market ended up for a sixth session, its longest winning streak since last May. Turnover was active at T$117.4 billion ($3.5 billion), but lower than Monday's T$147.6 billion. "Investors were buying non-tech shares such as construction shares," said Tu Jin-lung, chairman of Grand Cathay Investment Services. The construction sub-index <.TCOI>, the second winner of the day, jumped 2.55 percent. The transportation sub-index <.TTPI> gained 2.54 percent. Financial shares weighed on the market on fears that Taiwan's legislature could pass a bill capping the interest rate on credit card loans at 12.5 percent from the previous 20 percent as early as Tuesday. Chinatrust, Taiwan's top credit card issuer, was down 1.94 percent. Cosmos Bank <2837.tw>, majority owned by U.S. hedge fund SAC Capital and General Electric Co , slid 6.15 percent. The broader banking and insurance sub-index <.TFNI> fell 0.48 percent, retreating from a 17 percent gain over the past five sessions. The benchmark index <.TWII> was up 7 percent during the same period. "The possible move will affect banks differently depending on how much of their business comes from credit card loans," said Robert Hsieh, a vice president at the domestic department of Shin Kong Investment Trust. "Overall, the impact won't be too great." Analysts said the fall in financial shares was largely a short-term pull-back after their recent rallies. Financial shares will likely rise further in the longer term on hopes over the possible signing of a financial agreement when top negotiators from Taiwan and China meet later this year. In the tech sector, smartphone maker HTC <2498.tw> fell 2.9 percent after posting a 30 percent dip in first-quarter earnings on Monday. [ID:nTP133169] However, UMC <2303.tw> , the world's No. 2 contract chip maker, rose 2.78 percent ahead of announcing its March and first quarter sales on Wednesday. UMC's larger rival TSMC <2330.tw> lost 0.57 percent while the semiconductor sub-index <.TSII> rose 0.47 percent. HOT STOCKS -- Advanced Semiconductor Engineering (ASE) <2311.tw>, the world's leading chip packager, was down 0.29 percent despite BNP Paribas raising its target price on the Taiwan firm to T$15 from T$7.8. [nTP189152] -- Chunghwa Telecom <2412.tw> rose 0.8 percent after a media report that senior executives from telecom operators in both Taiwan and China such as Chunghwa Telecom and China Mobile <0941.hk> will meet in Beijing to discuss closer cooperation. --------------------TAIEX IN PERSPECTIVE-------------------- Move on day 0.37 percent Close on day 5,576.85 2009 intraday high 5,624.28 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$33.5) (Reporting by Gina Chang, Editing by Jacqueline Wong) ((gina.chang@thomsonreuters.com; +886 2 2508-0815; Reuters Messaging:gina.chang.thomsonreuters.com@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
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