Taiwan stocks gave up early gains to fall 0.29 percent on Wednesday, weighed down by tech shares but supported by financials after the island and China agreed to discussions on opening up their financial industries. The main TAIEX share index fell 14.37 points to close at 4,978.26, after having opened past the 5,000 level in early morning trade.
Technology and financial shares dominated trading, taking the top four places by turnover and top three places by volume, respectively. "I can't see the TAIEX going past 5,100 or 5,200 this week," said Alex Huang, vice president at Mega International Securities.
Turnover stood at T$83.7 billion ($2.86 billion), above the average in the last few sessions. Technology shares fell across the board with few exceptions. PC vendor Asustek and top electronics parts maker Hon Hai fell 3.1 percent and 1.6 percent, respectively, as investors feared the global economic slowdown would dash consumer demand for the firms' hi-tech products in the key Christmas shopping season.
DRAM makers Powerchip and Nanya Tech bucked the trend to rise 6.96 percent and 0.69 percent, respectively, as investors looked at their low valuations as a reason to buy into the companies. Financials led the index throughout most of the day's trading. Chinatrust Financial and First Financial rose 6.9 percent and 4.7 percent, respectively.
The broader banking and insurance sub-index rose 2.69 percent. "Discussions on the liberalisation of the financial sectors will take place from Wednesday afternoon, and we think that's one major factor that's pushing up financials today," said Celia Wu, financial analyst at Yuanta Securities. China Airlines and Eva Airways fell by 1.91 percent and 3.71 percent, respectively, as a jump in fuel prices offset expected benefits from the signing of an agreement that would triple the number of cross-strait flights to mainland China.
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