Taipei shares -- 2 (lack of buying momentum: analyst)

At 10:38 am, the weighted index was down 6.39 points at 5,137.05, off a high of 5,180.91 and a low of 5,113.42, on turnover of 19.83 bln twd. 

	    KG Securities Investment Advisory deputy manager Lei Chung-kuang said the market continued its recent rangebound trading mainly due to a lack of strong buying momentum even though selling pressure appears modest. 

	    "The central bank's latest rate cuts were shrugged off as irrelevant as the market is really not troubled by a liquidity shortage but by a general reluctance to buy shares instead."

	    A note of caution has also prevailed before President Chen's televised address at 11:00 am, with political concerns still in place ahead of the first anniversary of Chen's inauguration on May 20, he said. 

	    The prospect of Taiwan shares getting a higher weighting in MSCI's provisional index series this coming weekend did not help much either as it was considered fairly well priced in already in the form of active purchases 

by foreign investors recently, he added. 

	    TSMC was up 1.00 twd at 90.00 on volume of 10.33 mln shares after reports about its capacity plans for the coming years. 

	    Macronix was up 0.60 at 43.00 on 14.49 mln shares, reversing its recent losses ahead of going ex-stock dividend for 3.00 twd on Tuesday.

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