Taiwan stocks at 5-wk intraday high, ProMOS jumps

* Market hits more than five-week intraday high

* DRAMs mixed on ProMOS' loan issue (Updates indexes, adds details and quote)

TAIPEI, Feb 16 - Taiwan stocks rose 0.19 percent on Monday to a more than five-week intraday high, with ProMOS <5387.TWO> jumping on hopes that the troubled DRAM maker would secure additional funds to help pay off a convertible bond.

ProMOS, Taiwan's No. 3 DRAM maker, will allow holders of its foreign convertible bonds to sell back the notes starting Tuesday, as the struggling company scrambles to find money for the potential redemption. [ID:nTP85610]

Media reports said that the bank syndicate will meet again on Monday after failing to reach a consensus last week. "It seems investors are betting that the government will help ProMOS in order to boost market sentiment," said Andrew Deng, a vice president of Taiwan International Securities Corp.

ProMOS shares surged to their daily maximum on Friday after Taiwan's economics ministry said it hoped a bank consortium would agree to lend T$5 billion ($150 million) to ProMOS. [ID:nTP57138] Powerchip <5346.TWO>, Taiwan's top DRAM maker, rose 0.51 percent, but smaller rival Nanya Tech <2408.TW> fell 2.13 percent.

However, ProMOS's loan weighed on the financial sub-index <.TFNI>, which dropped 0.59 percent. Mega Financial <2886.TW>, part of the consortium for ProMOS' loan, fell 1.45 percent.

Netbook PC pioneer Asustek <2357.TW> gained 1.36 percent after a local newspaper said the firm could see foreign exchange gains of about T$500 million this month following the Taiwan dollar's recent depreciation against the U.S. dollar.

"Shares of Asustek won't likely jump a lot in the short term, because concerns over demand remain. We still need to wait for at least a quarter to see the effects of Asustek's restructuring," said Deng.

Deng expected the market to trade between 4,400-4,800 points this week.

HOT STOCKS

-- Quanta Computer <2382.TW>, the world's largest contract manufacturer of laptop PCs, shed 0.14 percent after saying on Monday its first-quarter shipments would fall by 30 percent or more from the fourth quarter due to weak consumer spending. [nTPU001108]

-- Chip designer Mediatek <2454.TW> rose 0.17 percent after a newspaper said the firm could ship more than 60 million chips used in cellphones in the current quarter on the back of increasing demand from the mainland.

For a table of foreign trading in Taiwan stocks, double-click on [ID:nTP170358] (US$1=T$34.0)