Led by gains in construction shares amid a strong local currency, Taiwan's share prices closed higher Monday, with the weighted index, the market's key barometer, rising 26.1 points, or 0.35 percent, to close at the day's high of 7,437.98. Despite losses on Wall Street last Friday and weak showings in stock markets in Asia, the local bourse opened slightly higher at 7,424.24 and dropped to the day's low of 7,381.02 before closing at the day's high. A total of 3.27 billion shares changed hands on market turnover of NT$94.78 billion (US$2.94 billion) , down from NT$116.04 billion the previous trading day. Seven of the eight major stock categories gained ground, with construction stocks moving up the most at 1.42 percent. Plastics and chemicals issues rose 1.31 percent, textile shares advanced 0.91 percent, paper and pulp issues gained 0.66 percent, banking and financial shares were up 0.45 percent, machinery and electronics stocks advanced 0.24 percent, and food stuff shares added 0.01 percent. Only one of the major stock categories -- cement shares -- dropped 0.7 percent. Gainers outnumbered losers 1,167 to 1,162, with 216 stocks remaining unchanged. Foreign institutional investors were net sellers of NT$10.24 billion-worth of shares for the day, compared with NT$13.13 billion the previous trading day. They had bought a net NT$144.2 billion in shares in September, helping drive up the Taiex by more than 10 percent for the month. One analyst said that with the market volume continuing to shrink as the Taiex hovers around the monthly moving average of 7,380, the market is likely to fluctuate between 7,200 and 7,600. 