Taiwan stocks fell from a 1-month closing high on Tuesday, as losses in display screen makers like Chi Mei Optoelectronics Corp pulled down the heavily weighted electronics sector. The TAIEX share index was supported by Wall Street's overnight gains, but still ended down 0.21 percent at 5,981.54 points, after the previous session's 1.94 percent gain. "Foreigners were buying big chip makers, but some profit taking in LCD makers set in," said Michael On, managing director of Beyond Asset Management, which has some US $60 million under management.
He said electronic issues could see more selling after the Lunar New Year holidays. The stock market will be closed from February 4-13.
Turnover softened to T$74.5 billion on Tuesday from a 6-week high of T$99.7 billion on Monday.
Display shares had led the previous day's strong rally as investors bet that prices of liquid crystal displays (LCDs) would hit bottom soon, but most encountered selling on Tuesday after they posted big quarterly losses after market close on Monday.
Chi Mei fell 2.4 percent to T$44.80 and smaller rival Quanta Display slid 3.16 percent to T$18.40.
AU Optronics Corp, the world's third-largest maker of computer displays, fell 0.83 percent to T$47.90 after surging nearly 6 percent on Monday.
Taiwan Pulp & Paper rose 0.95 percent to T$10.65 and Nan Ya Plastics was unchanged at T$46.80 on the day's trading.
The over-the-counter market's TAISDAQ index closed down 1.2 percent to 111.35, and February TAIEX futures lost 0.03 percent to end at 5,980.
Comments
Comments are closed.