Stocks retraced early gains to end slightly lower yesterday, as investors took profits after the main index breached the key resistance level of 5900.
The TAIEX closed down 8.73 points, or 0.2 percent, at 5858.32, having reached an intraday high of 5922.71.
Decliners outnumbered advancers 381 to 326 with 221 stocks unchanged in trading valued at NT$70.51 billion (US$2.07 billion).
"Investors favored pocketing some gains when the index breached 5900 during the session, despite a rally in US tech shares," said Solomon Chang, a manager at Jih Sun Securities Ltd (
The Nasdaq Composite Index rose 2.0 percent overnight, while the Dow Jones Industrial Average was 0.9 percent higher at 10,008.16.
Gains in the American Depositary Receipts of Taiwan's giant chipmakers failed to ignite their local shares because of profit-taking, Chang said.
United Microelectronics Corp (
The technology subindex ended 0.2 percent lower, while the financial subindex was off 0.5 percent.
Shares of Sinopac Holdings Co (建華金控), the 10th-largest financial holding company by market value in Taiwan, dropped 3.6 percent to NT$18.60 after hitting a year-to-date high of NT$20.20 Thursday.
Shares of shipping companies were also higher on a positive business outlook for next year.
Shares in Evergreen Marine Corp (長榮海運), Taiwan's largest shipper, rose 2.8 percent to NT$29.80.
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