Taiwan stocks ended down 0.77 percent on Monday, though chip designer MStar Semiconductor surged by the maximum allowed in a session after rival Mediatek offered to buy it at a 20 percent premium. MStar was up 6.85 percent, while Mediatek gained 2.37 percent. The main TAIEX index ended down 55.67 points at 7,166.38, after opening flat.
Plastics counters were the biggest drag, shedding 2.52 percent. Electronics shares and banking shares lost 0.58 percent and 0.78 percent respectively.
The Taiwan dollar was down by T$0.010 to trade at T$29.958. Foreign investors were net sellers on Friday, bringing their total selling to T$18.64 billion this month.