TAIEX ends lower after three straight sessions of gains

Shares ended lower on profit-taking yesterday after three consecutive sessions of gains in which the benchmark index rose to its highest level in nearly three months, analysts said.

The TAIEX fell 31.78 points, or 0.5 percent, to 6,105.79.

Turnover was NT$76.47 billion (US$2.45 billion), down from NT$80.95 billion Monday, with 621 stocks closing lower, 230 higher and 152 unchanged.

"The US markets seem to be taking a breather after recent big gains, giving investors a chance to lock in profit," said Derek Lam, Fubon Securities' (富邦證券) head of trading.

Overnight, the Dow Jones industrial average inched up 0.06 percent and the Nasdaq composite index ended just 0.2 percent higher.

"Some consolidation after an upswing by more than 400 points in previous sessions should not strike us as not reasonable," Wilson Lien, a Jih Sun Securities Investment (日盛投顧) deputy manager, said.

He said this was especially the case as the market had come to a level where various technical resistance areas converged.

Shares in BenQ Corp (明基) dropped 2.7 percent to NT$32.50 on profit-taking on speculation about a possible joint-venture mobile handset business with Germany's Siemens AG.

Shortly after the market closed, Siemens said BenQ will take over its loss-making mobile phone division.

United Microelectronics Corp (聯電) bucked the main board's fall to close 1.3 percent higher at NT$22.7. However, UMC said after market hours its revenue last month fell by a third from the same month last year to NT$6.47 billion.