Taiwan stocks ended down 0.32 percent on Thursday as investors shunned shares of financial and technology firms such as HTC, which reported weaker-than-expected September sales.
The main TAIEX share index opened higher but changed course swiftly. It declined 22.09 points to end at 6,984.58, taking a breather after rising to its highest close in nearly five months in the previous session. Turnover was active at T$93.93 billion ($2.8 billion), slightly lower than Wednesday's T$97.27 billion.
"Major high priced stocks fell and that weighed down the main index at the end of trade," said Jih Sun Investment Consulting manager Albert Lin. "The market will land at around 7,000 points in the next one to two weeks."
Smartphone maker High Tech Computer Corp. (HTC) dipped 4.31 percent to T$778.00 after posting September sales that missed expectations, pulling the electronics sub-index 0.33 percent lower. Other high-price issues were not immune to the selling - plastic lens maker Largan Precision Co. Ltd. also lost 3.93 percent to T$636.00. Analysts said investors are still cautiously awaiting corporate third-quarter earnings, due out by the end of the month.
Cathay Financial Holdings Co., Taiwan's top financial holding firm by assets, ended flat and rival Fubon Financial Holding dropped 3.34 percent, dragging the bank and insurance sub-index down 0.52 percent.
Cathay Financial posted a worse-than-expected 75 percent drop in third-quarter profit on bad loans on Wednesday. However, selected tech firms with solid September sales outperformed. Acer Inc, the world's fourth largest personal computer maker, rose 0.52 percent after it posted sales of over T$40 billion, up 21.6 percent from a year ago.
Blue-chip stock United Microelectronics Corp. (UMC) fell 0.82 percent as it tracked overnight losses on Wall Street. Quanta Computer Inc., the world's largest contract laptop PC maker, ended 1.52 percent higher after posting record high September sales, up around 20 percent from last year.