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To: DJBEINO who wrote (8920)	11/12/2000 8:06:33 AM
From: DJBEINO	Respond to of 9582

UMC in Barron's by: walk57 11/11/00 5:14 pm Msg: 13455 of 13461 Excerpt of an article in this weeks Barron's: For most of this year, Taiwan's stock market has been one of the worst performers in the pacific region. Battered by negative Global sentiments toward technology shares, which dominate the local market, and domestic political tensions, the bench-mark Taiwan market index has plummeted more than 40% from its peak of 10,202.20 last February 17. The plunge has prompted foreign fund managers to purge Taiwanese shares from their portfolios to levels well below those of benchmark indexes and seek refuge in Hong Kong, Singapore, China and South Korea. But stirrings of what may be a dramatic recovery are in the wind. Since sinking to a four-year low of 5,081.28 last October 19, the market has roared back by nearly 17% during the past two weeks, with the TAIEX index closing Friday at 6,088.74. And while most other markets in the region were dragged down last week by the falloff in high-tech shares and presidential election uncertainties in the U.S., Taiwan's market finished ahead by more than 5% on the week, bolstered by a temporary break in domestic political tensions and reconfirmation by Morgan Stanley Capital International (MSCI) that Taiwan's market weighting in its indexes would increase substantially after November 30. Political tensions have been eased for the time being by indications from opposition parties that they wouldn't move now to try to impeach President Chen Sbuibian. "We don't think impeachment or recall will happen," says Scott Weaver, Taiwan equity strategist with ING Barings in Taipei. MSCI had promised to increase the weighting earlier this year, depending on continued market-opening measures by the government, such as the October 20 decision to raise the ceiling for foreign equity investments to $1.5 billion from $1.2 billion. Last Monday's announcement that Taiwan had satisfied these demands and that the rebalancing would take place as scheduled sent stock prices soaring for four consecutive days. Since October 27, foreigners have bought about $1 billion net in Taiwan equities and are expected to continue to buy, brokers say. Their main targets have been bellwether stocks like Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing and United Microelectronics, both of which exceeded the 7% daily limits on price swings on three of five days last week. "The MSCI reweighting does put Taiwan back on the map, so to speak," says Frank Chiang, a portfolio manager with Montgomery Asset Management in San Francisco. "A lot of fund managers like ourselves were underweight prior to the rebalancing announcement," he explains. "But now we're being forced to decide whether or not to increase our positions in the market," he adds. Chiang has increased his Taiwan holdings by about 20% in recent days, adding mostly additional shares of Taiwan Semiconductor and United Microelectronics, which are currently trading 30%-35% below their January-February highs. Extremely low valuations and good market fundamentals, including continued (albeit slightly slower) export growth, and expectations of an easing of global oil prices and Taiwan's central bank monetary policy, have made buy decisions easier. "Taiwan is definitely the most attractive market in the region right now," says Raymond. Lin, portfolio manager for Asia with Sit Investments Associates in San Francisco. "On a price-to-book basis, Taiwan is cheaper than it ever has been," he adds. "As a result, you have some pretty decent companies trading at price/ earnings ratios below 20 but growing at over 25%-30% a year, which makes them very tempting." ING Barings' Scott Weaver rates Nan Ya Plastics as his top pick outside the electronics sector and blue-jeans maker Nien Hsing Textile as a Buy, along with market stalwarts Taiwan Semiconductor and United Microelectronics. messages.yahoo.com

To: DJBEINO who wrote (8920)	11/13/2000 1:18:31 AM
From: DJBEINO	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 9582

UMC (2303) closed @ 61.00 -4.50 vol 95,732,700 most active +++++++++ TAIWAN WEIGHTED closed @ 5793.52 -295.22 (-4.85%) Day's Range :5748.43 - 5878.64 ++++++++ Fate of plans to mount recall motion against Taiwan President Chen remains unclear; KMT legislative caucus leaders insisting party will continue the drive, but some KMT lawmakers voicing opposition, and big show of popular backing for Chen at weekend - over 100,000 of his supporters rallied Sunday in Taipei and Kaohsiung - underlined how unpopular recall would be among large section of electorate