Taiwan stocks fell 0.5 percent on Friday, paced by slides in CTBC Financial as its deal to acquire a local insurer was seen expensive. CTBC Financial, parent of Taiwan's top credit card issuer, shed 2.3 percent, while the financial subindex was off 0.8 percent. CTBC said it will buy Tokyo Star Bank and acquire Taiwan Life Insurance via a share swap deal. Taiwan Life rose 1.5 percent.
At about 0200 GMT, the main TAIEX index had fallen to 8,407.45 points, extending a 0.2 percent fall in the previous session and lagging some regional bourses. The electronics subindex was almost flat, with Hon Hai Precision up 0.5 percent. The Taiwan dollar was up slightly to stand at T$29.426 to the US dollar.