Taiwan stocks at 6-mth closing high on China plays

* Market rises for 6th straight session on China plays

* Financials down before vote on lower credit card rates cap

* HTC down after posting weak first-quarter earnings
(Adds details and quotes)

TAIPEI, April 7 (Reuters) - Taiwan stocks rose 0.37 percent
on Tuesday to a six-month closing high, as investors bought
property and shipping shares on continued hopes they would
benefit from improving ties with China.

However, gains were capped as financial shares such as
Chinatrust (2891.TW) fell ahead of a potential legislative move
to lower the cap on credit card interest rates.

The main TAIEX share index .TWII closed 20.63 points higher
at 5,576.85, its best finish since Oct. 3. The market ended up
for a sixth session, its longest winning streak since last May.

Turnover was active at T$117.4 billion ($3.5 billion), but
lower than Monday's T$147.6 billion.

"Investors were buying non-tech shares such as construction
shares," said Tu Jin-lung, chairman of Grand Cathay Investment
Services.

The construction sub-index .TCOI, the second winner of the
day, jumped 2.55 percent. The transportation sub-index .TTPI
gained 2.54 percent.

Financial shares weighed on the market on fears that Taiwan's
legislature could pass a bill capping the interest rate on credit
card loans at 12.5 percent from the previous 20 percent as early
as Tuesday.

Chinatrust, Taiwan's top credit card issuer, was down 1.94
percent. Cosmos Bank (2837.TW), majority owned by U.S. hedge fund
SAC Capital and General Electric Co (GE.N), slid 6.15 percent.

The broader banking and insurance sub-index .TFNI fell 0.48
percent, retreating from a 17 percent gain over the past five
sessions. The benchmark index .TWII was up 7 percent during the
same period.

"The possible move will affect banks differently depending on
how much of their business comes from credit card loans," said
Robert Hsieh, a vice president at the domestic department of Shin
Kong Investment Trust.

"Overall, the impact won't be too great."

Analysts said the fall in financial shares was largely a
short-term pull-back after their recent rallies.

Financial shares will likely rise further in the longer term
on hopes over the possible signing of a financial agreement when
top negotiators from Taiwan and China meet later this year.

In the tech sector, smartphone maker HTC (2498.TW) fell 2.9
percent after posting a 30 percent dip in first-quarter earnings
on Monday. [ID:nTP133169]

However, UMC (2303.TW) (UMC.N), the world's No. 2 contract
chip maker, rose 2.78 percent ahead of announcing its March and
first quarter sales on Wednesday.

UMC's larger rival TSMC (2330.TW) (TSM.N) lost 0.57 percent
while the semiconductor sub-index .TSII rose 0.47 percent.

HOT STOCKS

-- Advanced Semiconductor Engineering (ASE) (2311.TW), the
world's leading chip packager, was down 0.29 percent despite BNP
Paribas raising its target price on the Taiwan firm to T$15 from
T$7.8. [nTP189152]

-- Chunghwa Telecom (2412.TW) rose 0.8 percent after a media
report that senior executives from telecom operators in both
Taiwan and China such as Chunghwa Telecom and China Mobile
(0941.HK) will meet in Beijing to discuss closer cooperation.
--------------------TAIEX IN PERSPECTIVE--------------------

Move on day 0.37 percent

Close on day 5,576.85

2009 intraday high 5,624.28

2009 intraday low 4,164.19

All time high 12,682.41 12 FEB 1990
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For a table of foreign trading in Taiwan stocks, double-click
on [ID:nTP170358]
(US$1=T$33.5)
(Reporting by Gina Chang, Editing by Jacqueline Wong)