Taiwan's share prices surged Friday, with the weighted index, the market's key barometer, moving up 328.43 points, or 5.82 percent, to close at 5,970.38, according to news from Taipei.

Rebounding from losses of the previous day, the local bourse opened at 5,910.76 and fluctuated between 5,982.64 and 5,858.19. Atotal of 4.41 billion shares changed hands on market turnover of 105.33 billion new Taiwan dollars (3.27 billion U.S. dollars).

All eight major stock categories gained ground, with cement stocks moving up the most at 6.6 percent. Textile stocks advanced 6.3 percent, paper and pulp issues rose 6 percent, plastics and chemicals shares and banking and financial shares both increased 5.9 percent, foodstuff issues gained 5.8 percent, machinery and electronics shares were up 5.6 percent, and construction issues grew 5.4 percent.

Gainers outnumbered losers 1,686 to 233, with 257 stocks remaining unchanged.

(Xinhua News Agency September 20, 2008)