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Investors sit on sidelines ahead of earnings reports

Share prices closed 0.2 percent lower in thin trade yesterday, unable to extend recent gains on a lack of fresh leads and caution ahead of upcoming corporate results, dealers said.

They said the market continues to trade in a narrow range within sight of the key 6,000 points level which it has repeatedly tested but not convincingly broken for months.

The TAIEX closed down 11.70 points at 5,933.57, on turnover of NT$44.53 billion (US$1.39 billion).

Decliners led gainers 497 to 217, with 193 stocks unchanged.

"There were no fundamental leads to encourage investors to conduct any aggressive moves," said Samson Chueh (闕山雄), an assistant vice president at Fuhwa Securities Co (復華證券).

"Investors were reluctant to build positions as they remained cautious before the disclosure of corporate earnings," he said.

Many major firms are scheduled to report their earnings for last year soon at quarterly briefings.

Taiwan Semiconductor Manu-facturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) was up NT$0.20 at NT$49.10. TSMC is scheduled to hold an investor conference tomorrow. Rival United Microelectronics Corp (聯電) steady at NT$19.40 while Macronix International (旺宏) down NT$0.30 at NT$6.30.

Chi Mei Optoelectronics Corp (奇美電子) closed up NT$0.20 at NT$40.90 on a report that it aims to more than double its sales of panels for LCD TV sets this year to 4.5 million.

Yulon Motor Co (裕隆) added NT$0.70 to NT$38.50 after it announced a "conservative" pretax profit forecast for this year of NT$5.0 billion, compared with NT$6.12 billion last year.
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