Petrochemical Issues Lift Index
May 13, 2011
The Taiwan Stock Exchange Weighted-Price Index edged up 14.78 to 6324.60 on volume of 830 million shares. Decliners led gainers 195 to 140, with 89 issues ending unchanged. On Friday, the key index fell 2.61 points. Though selling from closed-end funds temporarily weakened the key index, buying in petrochemicals helped the market rebound, analysts said. Closed-end funds were selling to prevent themselves from converting into open-end ones, said Tank Hung, an assistant manager at Yuanta Capital Management. Among actively traded issues, Formosa Plastics added 1.50 New Taiwan dollars to NT$59.50, Nan Ya Plastics jumped 50 New Taiwan cents to NT$52.50 and Ever Fortune Industry gained 30 cents to NT$36.60. Jackelyn Tamala, an analyst at Core Pacific Investment Consulting, forecast that the market will rise in the short run because of the government's loose monetary policy. Foreign investors may serve as a bellwether as Taiwan will be added into Morgan Stanley & Co.'s emerging market index Monday, analysts said.
