TAIPEI, March 22 (Reuters) - Taiwan stocks fell 0.78 percent
on Monday, edging away from a two-month closing high, as losses
on Wall Street and fears over a parts shortage hurt technology
shares including Acer.
Analysts say both retail and foreign investors were waiting for U.S. stocks to stabilise or until signs of stronger technology demand emerge in the coming months.
'Investors are turning cautious now after recent gains, and you can see many blue-chip technology shares are weakening,' said Andrew Deng, analyst at Taiwan International Securities.
Among major losers, PC vendor Acer lost 0.9 percent and Compal, the world's No. 2 contract laptop PC maker, fell 2 percent amid lingering worries over the impact from a parts shortage on their sales and profit margins.
Top contract chip maker TSMC fell 1.67 percent and smaller rival UMC was down 1.18 percent.
Their losses pulled the main TAIEX index down 61.93 points to close at 7,835.98 amid renewed worries over Greece's debt problems that dragged U.S. shares lower late last week.
Turnover fell to T$105 billion ($3.3 billion) from Friday's T$114.2 billion. The broader electronics sub-index slid 0.96 percent and the financial sector dropped 0.94 percent.
LCD maker AU Optronics edged down 0.14 percent to T$36.75 despite a newspaper report saying that Morgan Stanley gave the stock a target price of T$46 on hopes of more new products.
'Sentiment on blue-chip shares was poor but buying switched to some smaller growth stocks,' said Tom Tang, a vice president at Masterlink Investment Advisory. Tang pegged the TAIEX at between 7,800-8,000 points this week.
Epistar, which supplies LED chips for mobile phones, shot up 2.4 percent and LCD TV maker Amtran Technology rose 1.8 percent.
Foreign investors were net sellers in February, but had bought T$91.7 billion worth of Taiwan shares this month as of Friday.. Final figures for Monday were due out after 0700 GMT.
--------------------TAIEX IN PERSPECTIVE--------------------
Move on day -0.78 percent
Close on day 7,835.98
2010 intraday high 8,395.39
2010 intraday low 7,080.90
All time high 12,682.41 12 FEB 1990
(US$1=T$31.8)
(Reporting by Baker Li, Editing by Jonathan Standing)
((baker.li@thomsonreuters.com; +886 2 2508-0815; Reuters messaging: baker.li.reuters.com@reuters.net)) ASIA-PACIFIC STOCK MARKETS: Pan-Asia...... Japan........ S.Korea.... S.E. Asia............ Hong Kong... Taiwan..... Australia/NZ......... India....... China...... OTHER MARKETS: Wall Street........... Gold......... Currency.. Eurostocks........... Oil........... JP bonds... ADR Report.......... LME metals.. US bonds... Stocks News US... Stocks News Europe... DIARIES & DATA: IPO diary & data Asia earnings diary U.S. earnings diary European diary Taiwan diary Wall Street Week Ahead Eurostocks Week Ahead World forecasts TOP NEWS: For top Asian company news, double click on: U.S. company news European company news Forex news Global Economy news Technology news Telecoms news Media news Banking news Politics/General news Asia Macro data A multimedia version of Reuters Top News is available at: http://topnews.session.rservices.com LIVE PRICES & DATA: World Stocks Currency rates Dow Jones/NASDAQ Nikkei FTSE 100 Debt Taiwan dollar LME price overview TAIWAN MARKET: Taiwan equity mkt TAIEX Other indices TAISDAQ TAIMEX Taiwan index futures MSCI Taiwan index SIMEX Taiwan index futures FTSE TW50 index Keywords: MARKETS TAIWAN STOCKS (If you have a query or comment on this story, send an email to news.feedback.asia@thomsonreuters.com) COPYRIGHT Copyright Thomson Reuters 2010. All rights reserved. The copying, republication or redistribution of Reuters News Content, including by framing or similar means, is expressly prohibited without the prior written consent of Thomson Reuters.
Analysts say both retail and foreign investors were waiting for U.S. stocks to stabilise or until signs of stronger technology demand emerge in the coming months.
'Investors are turning cautious now after recent gains, and you can see many blue-chip technology shares are weakening,' said Andrew Deng, analyst at Taiwan International Securities.
Among major losers, PC vendor Acer lost 0.9 percent and Compal, the world's No. 2 contract laptop PC maker, fell 2 percent amid lingering worries over the impact from a parts shortage on their sales and profit margins.
Top contract chip maker TSMC fell 1.67 percent and smaller rival UMC was down 1.18 percent.
Their losses pulled the main TAIEX index down 61.93 points to close at 7,835.98 amid renewed worries over Greece's debt problems that dragged U.S. shares lower late last week.
Turnover fell to T$105 billion ($3.3 billion) from Friday's T$114.2 billion. The broader electronics sub-index slid 0.96 percent and the financial sector dropped 0.94 percent.
LCD maker AU Optronics edged down 0.14 percent to T$36.75 despite a newspaper report saying that Morgan Stanley gave the stock a target price of T$46 on hopes of more new products.
'Sentiment on blue-chip shares was poor but buying switched to some smaller growth stocks,' said Tom Tang, a vice president at Masterlink Investment Advisory. Tang pegged the TAIEX at between 7,800-8,000 points this week.
Epistar, which supplies LED chips for mobile phones, shot up 2.4 percent and LCD TV maker Amtran Technology rose 1.8 percent.
Foreign investors were net sellers in February, but had bought T$91.7 billion worth of Taiwan shares this month as of Friday.. Final figures for Monday were due out after 0700 GMT.
--------------------TAIEX IN PERSPECTIVE--------------------
Move on day -0.78 percent
Close on day 7,835.98
2010 intraday high 8,395.39
2010 intraday low 7,080.90
All time high 12,682.41 12 FEB 1990
(US$1=T$31.8)
(Reporting by Baker Li, Editing by Jonathan Standing)
((baker.li@thomsonreuters.com; +886 2 2508-0815; Reuters messaging: baker.li.reuters.com@reuters.net)) ASIA-PACIFIC STOCK MARKETS: Pan-Asia...... Japan........ S.Korea.... S.E. Asia............ Hong Kong... Taiwan..... Australia/NZ......... India....... China...... OTHER MARKETS: Wall Street........... Gold......... Currency.. Eurostocks........... Oil........... JP bonds... ADR Report.......... LME metals.. US bonds... Stocks News US... Stocks News Europe... DIARIES & DATA: IPO diary & data Asia earnings diary U.S. earnings diary European diary Taiwan diary Wall Street Week Ahead Eurostocks Week Ahead World forecasts TOP NEWS: For top Asian company news, double click on: U.S. company news European company news Forex news Global Economy news Technology news Telecoms news Media news Banking news Politics/General news Asia Macro data A multimedia version of Reuters Top News is available at: http://topnews.session.rservices.com LIVE PRICES & DATA: World Stocks Currency rates Dow Jones/NASDAQ Nikkei FTSE 100 Debt Taiwan dollar LME price overview TAIWAN MARKET: Taiwan equity mkt TAIEX Other indices TAISDAQ TAIMEX Taiwan index futures MSCI Taiwan index SIMEX Taiwan index futures FTSE TW50 index Keywords: MARKETS TAIWAN STOCKS (If you have a query or comment on this story, send an email to news.feedback.asia@thomsonreuters.com) COPYRIGHT Copyright Thomson Reuters 2010. All rights reserved. The copying, republication or redistribution of Reuters News Content, including by framing or similar means, is expressly prohibited without the prior written consent of Thomson Reuters.
© 2010 AFX News
