Taiwan stocks fell 1.87 percent on Thursday to a near two-week closing low, as financial and tech shares dropped after weak US data, but gains in shares added to the MSCI Taiwan Index helped cushion the fall.The main TAIEX share index closed down 120.97 points at 6,364.17, following sharp losses on Wall Street, hitting its lowest finish since May 4.
Turnover was active at T$162.7 billion ($4.9 billion), rising from Wednesday's T$159.8 billion. Cathay Financial, Taiwan's top listed financial holding firm, lost 4.02 percent, and Chinatrust Financial, the island's largest credit card issuer, dropped 3.35 percent. The financial sub-index was down 3.73 percent.
"Slides in global stock markets triggered today's fall. But closer ties with China could help the market resume the upward trend," said Chang Chi-sheng, a fund manager at Uni-President Asset Management. Chang predicted the market would continue to pull back through the end of May before regaining momentum to test as high as 7,000 points.
The TAIEX recently advanced about 19 percent over eight straight sessions through to Monday, spurred by hopes of potential investments from China. ProMOS, Taiwan's No 3 DRAM maker and the only stock removed from the MSCI Taiwan Index, dropped by the 7 percent daily limit. On Thursday, MSCI added 22 stocks to its Taiwan Index, including real estate developer Farglory, touch-panel maker Wintek and chip designer VIA Technologies.
Shares of Farglory were up 3.68 percent. Wintek and VIA Tech both ended up by their 7 percent limit. Powerchip, the island's biggest DRAM company, closed limit-down after a newspaper said it was unable to reach a consensus with holders of its European Convertible Bonds (ECB) on a new redemption price and would make alternative plans.
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