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TAIEX closes lower ahead of market-status upgrade

Share prices closed 0.14 percent lower yesterday as late selling wiped out earlier gains made on the NASDAQ's rally overnight and expectations of an imminent upgrade of the country to developed-market status in the FTSE indices, dealers said.

The TAIEX closed down 8.45 points at 5,919.77, on turnover of NT$99.04 billion (US$2.92 billion).

Decliners led gainers 353 to 329, with 151 stocks unchanged.

Dealers said old-economy stocks ran into selling pressure following recent gains while selected electronics attracted interest on expectations of improved product prices.

"Investors turned cautious before the index could test the resistance [level] of 6,000 points," said Alex Huang, an assistant vice president at Barits International Securities (倍利證券).

"The still light turnover showed that investors were reluctant to push prices much higher, although selling was not significant either," Huang said, adding that the bellwether electronics sector managed to stay in positive territory thanks to the prospects for firmer product prices and gains in their US peers.

Dynamic random access memory (DRAM) chip makers were mostly higher after a report that South Korea's Samsung Electronics Co will halt supplying DRAMs to the spot market as of today to meet contracted obligations.

Powerchip Semiconductor Corp (力晶半導體) closed up NT$0.40 at NT$26.20 while Nanya Technology Corp (南亞科技) rose NT$0.60 to NT$26.90.

Taiwan Semiconductor Manu-facturing Co (台積電) lost NT$0.40 to NT$45.50 after a report that the company is bracing itself for the emergence of Samsung Electronics as a rival in the wafer-foundry industry. United Microelectronics Corp (聯電) fell NT$0.20 to NT$22.
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