32.240 /948 / +1.8

14:35 09Oct09 RTRS-Taiwan stocks rise as Cathay gains on Q3 earns; TSMC up * Cathay up on improving Q3 profit * TSMC rises before posting flat sale in September * TAIEX seen trading between 7,300 and 7,700 next wk (Updates indexes, adds quotes and details) TAIPEI, Oct 9 (Reuters) - Taiwan stocks ended up 0.91 percent on Friday, paced by gains in Cathay Financial <2882.tw> and other financial shares, after their third-quarter profits improved from the previous quarter. The main TAIEX share index <.TWII> closed 68.65 points higher at 7,571.96, ending the week with a 2.16 percent gain. Cathay Financial, the island's top listed financial holding firm, rose 2.2 percent. Cathay post a net profit of T$2.466 billion in the third quarter, improving from the previous three months. [ID:nTP27067] "Investors shifted their money to financial shares from technology stocks, as tech companies have reached their peak in sales in the third quarter," said Tu Jin-lung, the chairman of Grand Cathay Investment Services. Turnover was less active at T$131 billion ($4 billion) from T$162 billion in the previous two sessions. TSMC <2330.tw> , the world's largest contract chip maker, ended up 0.33 percent. After the market closed, the company said its September sales were roughly flat from a year ago. [nTPU001740] UMC <2303.tw> , a smaller rival of TSMC, rose 0.65 percent. The company reported an 18 percent rise in September sales from a year earlier on Thursday. [ID:nTP306744] Mediatek <2454.tw>, the session's most-active stock by turnover, gained 2.75 percent, recovering from its more than 7 percent slide over the last two sessions. Market sentiment was also boosted by a newspaper report that the National Stabilisation Fund will not sell the shares it currently owns despite having made paper profit of about T$30 billion as of the September quarter. But worries over the central bank's attempt to control capital limited gains of the broader market. The Taiwan dollar hit a one-year closing high on Thursday, but it weakened on Friday with investors worried about central bank intervention to fend off speculation. [ID:nTP363135] "Foreign fund inflows have been fuelling gains in Taiwan stocks in the past few months, but foreign investors would likely be discouraged if the central banks made further moves to control liquidity," said Rayming Yu, chief investment officer at Prudential Financial Securities Investment Trust. Yu said gains in asset plays could continue to provide further support to the broader market, which is seen to trade mainly between 7,300 and 7,700 next week. Powerchip Semiconductor Corp <5346.two> surged 6.6 percent after its venture with Japanese PC memory maker Elpida Memory Inc <6665.t> turned profitable in July-September on rising prices of DRMA. [ID:nT273961] For a table of foreign trading in Taiwan stocks, double-click on [ID:nTP170358] --------------------TAIEX IN PERSPECTIVE------------------ Move on day 0.91 pct Close on day 7,571.96 2009 intraday high 7,635.66 2009 intraday low 4,164.19 All-time high 12,682.41 12 FEB 1990 ----------------------------------------------------------- (Reporting by Joan Hsu; Editing by Ken Wills) ((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:
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