Taiwan stocks end off, cautious of second quarter results

Taiwan stocks ended a touch lower on Monday, edging further away from an 8-week high on faltering electronics shares as most investors stayed out of the game in the final days of earnings season to avoid unwelcome surprises.
Investors cashed out of tech stocks like memory chip maker Powerchip, which had helped to lead the recent advance, but construction-related shares supported the market, eyeing rebuilding after Typhoon Aere's destruction.
The TAIEX share index ended down a thin 0.15 percent to 5,788.94, keeping a weak tone after retreating on Friday from the 8-week closing high of 5,813.39.
Listed firms are required to post April-June results before the end of August and analysts said the market wanted to be sure the handful of major tech firms set to announce results on Monday and Tuesday would not sour a generally upbeat mood.
"The market's view right now is that we only have to wait one or two days before the question of half-year reports is resolved, then we can enter the market," said Roger Lin, deputy research manager at Pacific Securities.
"My personal view is there is still room to attack higher," he said. "Looking at this rebound, we have only gained about 500 points and that is not very much," he said, referring to a recent bounce after ranging near a one-year low for most of August. Turnover was sluggish at T$66.0 billion amid the wait-and-see mood, slipping from T$82.23 billion on Friday.
The electronics subindex was the day's heaviest decliner, losing 1.06 percent as the tech sector remained sluggish after Wistron Corp, the contract manufacturing arm of the Acer family of companies, unexpectedly cut its 2004 profit forecast to a loss last week.
Wistron lost 4.14 percent to T$12.75, while Powerchip, the world's largest memory chip maker was the day's most active issue and gave up 1.98 percent to close at T$24.70.
Personal computer company Acer Inc, which is expected to report second-quarter results later on Monday, slipped 0.44 percent. But construction-related shares resumed gains powered by hopes of reconstruction demand after damage caused by last week's Typhoon Aere after brief profit-taking on Friday.
Top steel-maker China Steel added 0.32 percent to T$39.50, while Hung Sheng Construction rose 1.82 percent to T$16.80.
The over-the-counter market's TAISDAQ index slipped 0.83 percent to close at 114.51, while September TAIEX futures dipped 25 points, or 0.43 percent, to close near the spot price at 5,785.