Taiwan shares end flat on prolonged uncertainty

Taipei, Feb. 21, 2003 (CENS)--Taiwan shares ended virtually unchanged yesterday amid investors' prolonged concerns about a possible war in Iraq and overnight losses on Wall Street, analysts said.

The weighted price index of the Taiwan Stock Exchange finished 0.13 points lower to 4550.70 in dealings valued at NT$62.21 billion. Decliners outnumbered gainers 429 to 210, while 105 issues ended trading flat.

The market opened slightly higher and hit an intraday high at 4606.75, led by gains in electronics issues. But geopolitical and economic concerns capped the gains in these two sectors, while old-economy sectors, including cement, paper and steel, remained weak due to a lack of fresh leads, analysts said.

The electronics subindex finished trading 1.8% higher, led by flat panel display makers.

AU Optronics, Taiwan's leading maker of thin film transistor-liquid crystal displays, gained NT$0.90 to NT$24.50 on rising of its product prices. Another TFT-LCD maker Chunghwa Picture Tubes rose NT$0.50 NT$12.80.

Chip foundries Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. and United Microelectronics Corp. also gained on reports of rising orders for their foundry services.

TSMC rose NT$1.10 to NT$44.10, while UMC edged up NT$0.20 to NT$20.20.

Of other sectors, paper & pulp shares was down 4.9%, cement issues fell 5.6%, and the financial sector slid 1.8%.

The price index of the over-the-counter market edged up 0.39 point to 95.00 in dealings valued at NT$4.26 billion.

March index futures on Taiwan's futures exchange closed up 29 points to 4560 on turnover of 16,379 lots. March electronics futures gained 3.60 points to 186.60 on volume of 4,813 lots, while March financial futures shed five points to 697.00 on turnover of 5,585 lots.