Taiwan stocks ended 0.36 percent lower on Wednesday, with smartphone maker High Tech Computer Corp leading a slide in high-price technology shares on weak investor confidence.
But a rebound in banking shares, after a recent slump caused by delayed privatisation plans, stemmed losses. The benchmark TAIEX share index finished down 20.59 points at 5,700.72, with turnover of about T$73 billion ($2 billion).
"These high-flying stocks have climbed substantially in the last few weeks," said Kevin Lin, an asset manager at Shin Kong Investment Trust, referring to electronic shares like High Tech.
"Even though company fundamentals look solid in Q4, there's heavy pressure in stock prices in the near term," he said.
The electronics subindex finished 1.34 percent lower, while the financial sub-index rose 1.19 percent. Financials were still down 6.8 percent since the start of September, a bigger fall than the 5.5 percent drop in the TAIEX and the 5.3 percent fall for electronics shares.
"Some institutional investors parked their money in financial stocks because it's safer given that the overall market sentiment is so poor," said William Wang, an executive vice president at International Investment Trust with T$80 billion under management.
High Tech led other high-priced stocks lower and was the most active by turnover. Shares in the smartphone maker slumped 5.54 percent to T$341.0 DVD chip designer Mediatek Inc fell 1.94 percent to T$277.50, while Catcher Technology Co Ltd plunged 6.81 percent to T$191.50.
United Microelectronics Corp fell 1.32 percent to T$18.65 and was the most active issue by volume. After the market closed, UMC posted its best quarterly profit in a year, but was still down 80 percent from a year ago.
LCD maker AU Optronics Corp added 0.51 percent to T$39.20 after it reported a better-than-expected quarterly profit and forecast only a small excess in the global supply of liquid crystal displays (LCD) in 2006.
Advanced Semiconductor Engineering Inc fell 3.37 percent before its quarterly results, due later Wednesday.
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