Apprehension over technology sector holds TAIEX back

Shares ended slightly lower yesterday as investors remained concerned over the technology sector's performance in the second half of the year, analysts said.

The TAIEX finished down 14.11 points, or 0.3 percent, at 5,373.85 in dealings valued at NT$52.04 billion (US$1.53 billion). For the week, the index fell 2.3 percent. Last week, it shed 4.8 percent. However, advancers outnumbered decliners 416 to 263, while 255 issues ended the day unchanged.

Although the US market rebounded overnight, "investors have been turning conservative on techs' second half for some time now, especially toward flat-panel stocks," said Daniel Hsin (辛日祺), an analyst at Capital Securities Corp (群益證券).

AU Optronics Corp (友達光電), the world's third-largest maker of thin-film-transistor liquid-crystal displays (LCD), finished 0.3 percent higher at NT$40.4.

The company said on Thursday it would be willing to trim production if necessary, providing some short-lived relief for investors worried about LCD oversupply. As yesterday's session progressed, however, pessimism grew that there would be an industrywide cut in output, raising worries of a difficult third quarter, analysts said.

Rival Chi Mei Optoelectronics Corp (奇美電子) climbed 1.1 percent to NT$44.50.

"Investors returned to their conservative stance on the tech sector's second half," Hsin said.

Taiwan Semiconductor Manu-facturing Co (台積電), the world's largest contract chip maker, dropped 1.2 percent to NT$42.8. Its smaller rival, United Microelectronics Corp (聯電), was flat at NT$21.5.