Focus Taiwan
Date: 2015/11/04
By: Frances Huang

Taipei, Nov. 4 (CNA) Shares in Taiwan moved sharply higher to close above the 8,800-point mark Wednesday amid hopes of closer cross-strait relations ahead of a planned meeting between President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) and Chinese leader Xi Jinping (習近平), dealers said.

Investors scrambled to buy into large-cap stocks, in particular in the bellwether electronics sector with semiconductor stocks under the spotlight, while buying spread to old economy stocks to maintain the strength of the broader market throughout the session, they said.

The weighted index on the Taiwan Stock Exchange ended up 143.83 points, or 1.65 percent, at 8,857.02, after moving between 8,754.18 and 8,864.17, on turnover of NT$127.21 billion (US$2.93 billion).

The market opened up 0.53 percent in an initial reaction to a rising Wall Street, where the Dow Jones Industrial Average closed up 0.50 percent, and buying accelerated as investors were encouraged by the upcoming Ma-Xi meeting to raise their holdings to push up the index even higher by the close, dealers said.     [FULL  STORY]