Taiwan shares closed down 0.28 percent on Tuesday after the previous day's 4 percent gain, with big tech names such as TSMC tracking losses in US peers on worries over slowing demand. The main TAIEX ended 20.02 points lower at 7,065.65, after scoring its biggest gain in nearly four months in the previous session.
The market resumed a slide that had brought it down 24 percent since hitting the year's highest close on May 19. "The market followed the loss on Wall Street and tech shares dropped a lot because of Apple and TI," said Charles Chen, a fund manager at JF Asset Management. Apple Inc said Monday its current-quarter earnings would be well below Wall Street targets, raising worries that tech demand would weaken in the third quarter.
Shares of Asustek Computer, which makes computers for Apple, fell 1.85 percent. The world's top contract chip maker, Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC) dropped 3.18 percent, after Texas Instruments Inc (TI), one of TSMC's major clients, posted disappointing quarterly results and outlook on Monday.
TSMC's smaller rival, United Microelectronics Corp (UMC), slid 2.21 percent, weighing the broader electronics sub-index 0.9 percent lower. The banking and insurance sub-index defied the broader market's fall and edged up 0.25 percent, with First Financial up 3.26 percent.
Novatek Microelectronics, a supplier of driver chips to Nokia, rose 2.82 percent, after a local newspaper report that the world's biggest maker of mobile phones is set to buy more panels and driver chips for its cellphones from Taiwan suppliers next year.
However, LCD maker AU Optronics Corp, one of Nokia's panel suppliers, fell 1.11 percent ahead of its second-quarter earnings due out on Thursday. Taiwan Co-operative Bank, one of the most active shares by volume, rose 2.96 percent to T$26.10 after media reported it plans to buy back 80 million shares at T$22-T$27 per share.