TAIEX lower on typhoon, Wall Street worries

Stocks fell for a third day yesterday, with sentiment undermined by Wall Street's weakness and damage caused by Typhoon Mindulle, dealers said.

Cement and steel shares outperformed on expectations that they could benefit from reconstruction demand, they said. Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (台積電) and United Microelectronics Corp (聯電) led declines among chipmakers after Deutsche Bank AG joined Morgan Stanley in saying Intel Corp's revenue may fall short of forecasts. The TAIEX slid 86.92, or 1.5 percent, to 5,659.78, on turnover of NT$43.86 billion (US$1.3 billion). About four shares fell for each that rose. Futures for July delivery shed 1 percent to 5,597.

Trading was below average after Typhoon Mindulle killed at least 18 people and caused about NT$2.4 billion (US$71 million) in damage, according to the government. "The market trended down mainly because there was no reason to buy shares, not even bargain-hunting," First Taisec Securities fund manager Lee Chien-wei said. However, the losses in relatively modest trade could be laying the basis for a technical rebound in the near term, he said.

"Now that the benchmark index is coming close to around 5,500 points, the chances of a bounce on technical grounds are rising," he added. Taiwan Cement Corp (臺泥) was up 2.63 percent at NT$15.60, Asia Cement Corp (亞泥) up 0.54 percent at NT$18.70, Tung Ho Steel Enterprise Corp (東鋼) 0.38 percent higher at NT$26.30 and Yieh Loong Steel Co (燁隆) up 2.41 percent at NT$14.90. China Steel Corp (中鋼), the country's largest steelmaker, was unchanged at NT$31.60.

Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co, the world's largest supplier of made-to-order chips, fell 3 percent to NT$44.80. Rival United Microelectronics Corp lost 2.5 percent to NT$23.80.

Nanya Technology Corp (南亞科技), the country's third-largest memory-chip maker, tumbled 6.7 percent to NT$25. Rival Powerchip Semiconductor Corp (力晶半導體) was limit-down at NT$25.90.