In the News: 2004

Taiwan Shares Added to MSCI Indexes Surge In Wed Trade

Dow Jones News
12 May 2004

Shares in all 11 Taiwanese firms to be added to Morgan Stanley Capital International Inc.'s indexes rose Wednesday.

Chi Mei Optoelectronics Corp. (3009.TW), the world's fourth largest maker of thin-film-transistor liquid-crystal-display panels, was one of the largest additions to the MSCI Emerging Markets Index, MSCI said in a Tuesday statement.

Shares in the firm rose 5.5% to NT$67.5 (US$1=NT$33.505) on the Taiwan Stock Exchange.

MSCI said the new additions will take effect at the market close on May 28. There were no deletions from Taiwan.

Taiwan's Quanta Display Inc. (3012.TW) and Shin Kong Financial Holding Co. (2888.TW) were also added to the MSCI Emerging Markets Index. Quanta shares ended the day up 5.3% at NT$25.7, while Shin Kong gained 1.5% to NT$27.7.

The eight remaining firms will be added to the MSCI Taiwan Index. Among them, shares in Optimax Technology Corp. (3051.TW) posted the strongest gains Wednesday, rising 6.6% to NT$144.5.

Investors in Taiwan are awaiting an MSCI decision, expected by June 18, on increasing Taiwan's weighting in its influential indexes. MSCI has strongly suggested that the first phase of a weighting increase for the island would begin in November.

Some money managers match their portfolios exactly to MSCI's indexes, and many others use them as benchmarks when dividing their funds among different countries and stocks.

As a result, a reweighting would draw large new inflows of international funds into Taiwan's stock market, already Asia's third-largest market for international investors based on market capitalization.

The remaining firms to be added to the MSCI Taiwan Index are Asia Optical Co. (3019.TW), E.Sun Financial Holding Co. (2884.TW), Fu Sheng Industrial Co. (1520.TW), Polaris Securities Co. (2854.TW), Ya Hsin Industrial Co. (2418.TW), Yieh Phui Enterprise Co. (2023.TW) and Yuen Foong Yu Paper Manufacturing Co. (1907.TW)