Breaking News, World News and Taiwan News.

Updated Friday, May 1, 2009 9:34 am TWN, The China Post news staff



	While having a lunch box meal at a securities house, a female investor loses no time staring at the big board of the Taiwan stock exchange, filled with red figures indicating the rally of listed shares. The local bourse rallied 6.74 percent to close at 5,992.57 when trading session ended at 1:30 p.m. (CNA) Enlarge Photo

Sponsors
▪	Get the best deals for Guangzhou Hotels or choose from more than 10,000 hotels in 499 Chinese cities.
▪	Find great real time deals on China Flights. Book flights to China or China domestic flights 24/7.
▪	Buy china wholesale products from reliable chinese wholesalers on DHgate.com!
▪	Save 75% for all hotels in Shanghai, Beijing and whole China. Lowest rates for Flights in China.

Taiex posts the year's biggest daily rally of 6.74%

TAIPEI, Taiwan -- The weighted share price index of the Taiwan Stock Exchange yesterday shot up 6.74 percent, marking the biggest single-day rise this year and the eighth biggest ever, on the encouraging news that qualified direct institutional investors (QDIIs) of mainland China will be allowed to join the local securities markets, according to market sources.

The TAIEX surged 378.51 points to close at 5,992.57, following Taiwan's being invited to participate in this year's World Health Assembly as an observer, a sign of Taiwan's rapidly warming ties with China.

Buoyed by press reports that Taiwan will allow China's QDIIs to invest in its stock and futures markets starting next Monday at the earliest, the local stock market opened sharply higher at 5,964.03 and rose to 5,995.12 at one stage before moving down to 5,932.03.

According to Financial Supervisory Commission, mainland QDIIs will be able to apply to buy Taiwanese shares as long as the accumulated stake does not exceed 10 percent of a listed firm's total share value.

A total of 5.62 billion shares changed hands on market turnover of NT$136.88 billion (US$ 4.12 billion).

All the eight major stock categories advanced more than 6.7 percent, with cement stocks and paper and pulp issues surging the most at 6.9 percent. Banking and financial shares and construction stocks rallied 6.8 percent. Textile stocks, machinery and electronics shares, foodstuff issues, and plastics and chemicals issues all gained 6.7 percent.

Amid the strong bullish sentiment, as many as 2,090 shares posted gains, including 788 shares hitting the 7 percent daily ceiling limit. By contrast, 277 stocks suffered drops, and the remaining 24 issues ended unchanged.

Foreign investors posted an over-buying position of NT$32.99 billion, the highest figure of its kind this year and the 5th-highest level ever recorded.

Market observers said foreign institutional investors rushed to make massive purchases of Taiwanese shares, inspired

by the encouraging news that the iSahres MSCI Taiwan Index Fund (EWT) shot up 12.24 percent or US$1.07 on the New York Stock Exchange on Wednesday, for the largest single-day rally for the share.

Another major factor making foreign investors to revive their confidence in the local bourse was that China Mobile, the mainland's largest mobile phone service provider, has decided to acquire a 12 percent stake in Far EasTone Telecommunications, indicating the increasingly harmonious ties across the Taiwan Strait.

Analysts believe that as the TAIEX Index futures rose by the maximum allowable 7 percent to 6,015 yesterday on bullish sentiments, the TAIEX could break the 6,000-point threshold to reach 6,071 in the near future.

Subscribe to The China Post and save 25%. Click here