32.180/1046 / +9.6

14:36 07Oct09 RTRS-Taiwan stocks end at 16-mth high, helped by banks * Stronger T$ boosts asset shares but hurts tech exporters * HTC up after reporting weak Q3 results * DRAM shares gain on better revenue prospects (Updates indexes; adds quotes, details) TAIPEI, Oct 7 (Reuters) - Taiwan stocks rose 0.96 percent on Wednesday to a 16-month closing high, with banking shares such as Cathay Financial <2882.tw> boosted by a strong local currency and expectations of an interest rate hike. The main TAIEX share index <.TWII> finished up 72.61 points at 7,608.66, its highest close since June 26, 2008. Turnover was a healthy T$160 billion ($5 billion), compared with Tuesday's T$149 billion and an average of about T$100 billion over the last week. "Foreign buying and a stronger local currency boosted financial and construction shares," said Eddy Chen, a vice president at National Investment Trust Co Ltd. The Taiwan dollar rose to a one-year high on Tuesday as the U.S. dollar came under pressure following a hike in Australian interest rates, raising expectations among some investors that Taiwan's central bank could soon follow suit. Foreign investors bought a net total of T$9.6 billion worth of stocks on Tuesday, after unloading T$10 billion worth on Monday. [ID:nTP122059] Cathay Financial, the island's top listed financial holding firm, surged 5.22 percent, leading the banking and insurance sub-index <.TFNI> up 2.58 percent. The rising Taiwan dollar also helped boost shares of real estate companies such as Farglory <5522.tw>, which jumped 4.5 percent, as the stronger local currency would make imports of raw material cheaper for property developers. But the strong local currency hit export-reliant technology stocks, with top contract chipmaker TSMC <2330.tw> slipping 0.48 percent and its smaller rival UMC <2303.tw> down 0.62 percent. "I would stay away from technology shares for now, because they've become too pricey and the sector's outlook in the fourth-quarter is quite gloomy," said Chen. HOT STOCKS -- Mediatek <2454.tw>, which designs chips for mobile phones, DVD players and flat-screen TVs, slid 3.21 percent after it reported a 6.4 percent fall in September sales. [ID:nTP128196] -- HTC Corp <2498.tw>, the world's No. 4 smartphone brand, rose 1.41 percent, even after it reported worse-than-expected quarterly results on Tuesday. [ID:nTP206011] -- Powerchip <5346.two>, Taiwan's largest DRAM chipmaker, rose 0.67 percent after research firm Gartner said global semiconductor revenue could grow about 10 percent next year after two years of declines. [ID:nTP204996] ---------------------TAIEX IN PERSPECTIVE------------------ Move on day 0.96 pct Close on day 7,608.66 2009 intraday high 7,619.03 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] ((Reporting by Joan Hsu; Editing by Jonathan Hopfner)) ((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/
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> Wednesday, 07 October 2009 14:36:35RTRS [nTP277987] {EN}ENDS