TAIPEI, Nov 20, 2007 (AFP) - Taiwan share prices closed little changed Tuesday as the market recouped early losses driven by an overnight tumble on Wall Street, dealers said.

Fears of more volatility due to the US credit crisis were still prominent, they added.

The weighted index closed up 0.15 points at the day's high of 8,680.86 and off a low 8,372.05, on turnover of 139.99 billion Taiwan dollars (4.32 billion US).

"The dramatic turnaround toward the close reflects expectations that the market might have hit a near-term bottom, for now at least," said Michael Hsu, an assistant vice president at Taiwan Life Asset Management.

Bargain-hunting activity may pick up in the coming days and support a technical rebound, he said.

However, volatility was set to remain a feature on both Wall Street and the local bourse for a while, he said, noting continued concerns over global financial sector losses due to bad US housing loans.

"To what extent the fallout from the US subprime turmoil may spread further remains anybody's guess," Hsu said.

Decliners led risers 1,380 to 708, with 332 stocks unchanged. A total of 15 stocks closed limit-down while 24 were limit-up.

The bellwether electronics sector ended up 0.76 percent, helping the market's recovery.

Old-economy industrials remained a mixed bag, with the food sector up 1.69 percent, paper up 0.93 percent and construction up 0.19 percent.

The cement sector was down 1.93 percent, plastics/petrochemical fell 1.78 percent, textiles slipped 1.41 percent and the financial sector shed 1.10 percent.

The Taiwan dollar closed the morning at 32.399 to the US dollar, compared with the previous close of 32.351.

Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. was steady at 60.50 dollars and United Microelectronics Corp. finished unchanged at 20.50.

Flat panel makers continued to stand out as a bright spot. AU Optronics was up 3.10 at 66.20, Chi Mei rose 1.25 at 46.00 and Chunghwa Picture was up 0.60 at 12.45.

Uni-President fell 1.40 to 47.00, Taiwan Cement was down 1.30 at 43.00 and Formosa Plastics shed 2.90 to 84.80.