Taiwan stocks fell 2.13 percent on Friday to their lowest close in three weeks as investors saw little relief on Wall Street and trod cautiously amid corporate profit results in Taiwan and the United States.
The main TAIEX ended down 139.57 points at 6,428.03 as losses in big tech exporters like Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co Ltd (TSMC) led the bellwether electronics sub-index 2.50 percent lower.
Turnover was soft at T$73.58 billion ($2.25 billion). Before the day's fall, the index had lost 1.7 percent in the previous three days after a rebound that started in the middle of June, when fears over a domestic political stand-off waned.
"If oil prices remain high, we don't rule out the US Fed raising interest rates again and people will become conservative about the global economy," said Alex Huang, a vice president at Mega International Securities.
TSMC, the world's top contract chip maker, shed 2.13 percent after its ADRs dropped 3.38 percent on Thursday. AU Optronics Corp, another major exporter of LCD panels, dropped 2.29 percent.
A slew of Taiwan major technology firms, including TSMC and AU, are set to report second-quarter earnings between late July and end-August, with investors focusing on their outlook for the rest of the year following a dismal first half. Selling spread to other sectors, with financials losing 1.99 percent and the construction sector down 1.36 percent.