Taiwan stocks continue winning streak

Taiwan stocks rose 0.88 percent to a seven-year closing high on Thursday, as small-cap cyclicals such as Shinkong Synthetic Fibres stole the spotlight from the recent outperforming tech shares ahead of quarterly earnings. The main TAIEX share index ended up 79.80 points at 9,148.78, after closing above the 9,000-point mark the previous day for the first time in seven years.
The day's gains extended a 15 percent rally since the beginning of the year. Turnover remained active at T$197.31 billion ($6.02 billion). "The advance in the tech sector seems to have slowed down and the focus was switching to traditional industry firms that will benefit from growing domestic consumption or a stronger Taiwan dollar," said Kevin Lin, manager at Shinkong Investment Trust.
Shinkong Synthetic, the market's most active issue by volume, jumped 5.21 percent as recent gains in the local currency helped boost the value of its domestic assets. Home appliance maker Kolin shot up by its daily limit.
Their gains outpaced a 1.16 percent rise on the broader electronics sub-index and a 1.05 percent jump on the computer and peripherals sub-index. Chip designer Mediatek Inc rose 4.92 percent, while smartphone maker High Tech Computer lost 0.69 percent and Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co Ltd (TSMC), the world's top contract chip maker, fell 0.7 percent.
Taiwan's state-owned National Development Fund plans to hold its shares in TSMC because it has no need to raise extra cash for state coffers, a top official said on Thursday. In Taiwan, major technology firms will start reporting second-quarter earnings from late July and the market will use the results to gauge the strength of the tech sector's recovery.
Quanta Computer rose 3.11 percent despite news that South Korea's LG Electronics filed suit against Quanta, saying the world's biggest contract maker of laptop computers infringed on its DVD technology.
Cosmos Bank dropped 1.18 percent even after media reported that a group led by GE had been picked as the best investor for the bank. Chinatrust, Taiwan's top credit card issuer, was off 1.12 percent after the company said it expects its share in Taiwan's wealth management market to grow in the coming years.