Weakness on Wall Street drags local share prices down

Taiwanese share prices closed 1.02 percent lower yesterday in the wake of Wall Street's weakness late last week and as crude oil prices rose, dealers said.

They said sentiment was also dampened by the local currency's depreciation, raising concerns over foreign investors' stance toward Taiwanese stocks.

Select bellwether electronics led the declines on concerns over the prospects of their US counterparts, while some lost ground on weak earnings results.

The TAIEX closed down 65.98 points at 6,380.03, after trading between 6,408.05 and 6,375.89, on turnover of NT$92.68 billion (US$2.91 billion).

Decliners led gainers 627 to 259, with 104 stocks unchanged. Nine stocks closed limit-up, while 12 were limit-down. The steel sector was down 1.82 percent, financials down 1.63 percent, cement down 1.62 percent and electronics down 0.92 percent.

"The Wall Street factor apparently weighed down sentiment here," said Alvin Teng (鄧可欣), assistant vice president at SinoPac Securities (建華證券).

In addition, profit-taking continued to affect prices following previous gains, and technical factors were seen casting a shadow over the next trend.

Shares of Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (台積電) closed down NT$1.30 at NT$53.40 following a fall in its American Depositary Receipts after its secondary offer of 151.655 million ADRs was priced at US$8.60 each.

United Microelectronics Corp (聯電) lost NT$0.25 to NT$21.90.

Chunghwa Telecom Co (中華電信) shed NT$1.90 to NT$61.50 ahead of a planned offer by the government to auction 289.43 million shares in the firm to domestic investors today.