Taiwan share prices closed up 0.82 percent Thursday as investors scrambled to pick up large cap stocks amid improved sentiment after Wall Street's recent strong gains, dealers said. The weighted index rose 61.72 points to 7,515.78, after moving between 7,481.72 and 7,534.06, on turnover of NT$91.94 billion (US$2.85). The market opened up 0.66 percent on catch-up buying to chase Wall Street's jump of more than 2 percent Tuesday, and while some profit taking emerged during the trade, the early gains were sustained because of interest in buying low. The local bourse was closed Wednesday which was a public holiday. A total of 1,751 stocks closed higher and 1,102 lower, while 409 remained unchanged. The plastics and chemical sector scored the biggest gains, up 2.0 percent and the textile sector closed 0.9 percent higher. Cement, and the machinery and electronics sectors both ended 0.8 percent higher, while the paper and pulp sector gained 0.7 percent. The construction sector rose 0.6 percent, the foodstuff sector 0.4 percent and financial shares 0.2 percent. 'Market confidence is on the rise as the local bourse has posted consecutive gains in the last few sessions, ' said Grand Cathay Securities analyst Mars Hsu. Since June 9, the index has added 6.3 percent. 'The expanded turnover indicated that more and more investors are willing to trade instead of just staying on the sidelines, ' Hsu said.'A stable euro has also helped to stabilize market movements on the receding effects of the debt problems in Europe.' Hsu said large cap stocks attracted buying as the industrial outlook for many of them was positive. Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co, rose 1.14 percent to NT$62.10 and rival United Microelectronics Corp gained 2.04 percent to reach NT$15.00 amid optimism over sales growth in the global integrated circuit industry. Formosa Petrochemical rose 1.60 percent to NT$82.50 on high hopes that the company will release a positive report at its annual general meeting scheduled for Thursday afternoon. Hsu said the market is likely to move in a narrow range over the next few sessions ahead of the nearest resistance point of around 7,600. Bucking the upward trend on the broader market, China Airlines fell 0.95 percent to NT$15.65 and EVA Airways finished 0.52 percent lower at NT$19.05 as investors took profit from recent gains after new direct flight services between Taipei's Songshan Airport and Shanghai's Hongqiao Airport were launched. 