Share prices closed 0.04 percent lower yesterday as a fall in electronics stocks countered early market gains driven by an overnight rally on Wall Street, dealers said.
They said that although a record-breaking run in global oil prices supported raw materials companies and asset-backed stocks, high energy costs sparked concerns in the electronics segment.
The TAIEX closed down 2.81 points at the day's low of 6,350.90, on turnover of NT$91.03 billion (US$2.85 billion).
The electronics sector index fell 1.07 percent.
"Electronics suffered from further profit-taking as expectations of an industry improvement had already been factored into the shares," Tom Tang (湯建源), president of Kai Yuan Securities Investment Consultant Co (開元投顧), said.
Investor interest switched from electronics to old-economy stocks, he said.
"Riding on high oil prices, liquidity switched to old-economy stocks, and thanks also to a technical rebound after the previous correction," he added.
However, electronics stocks will still be crucial to the broad market's prospects going forward, Tang noted.
"The key point is whether electronics firms' earnings will improve as expected," he noted.
Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (
BenQ Corp (明基) shed 3.05 percent to NT$35 after a report that the information technology communication maker has decided to cut its sales target for LCD TVs to 300,000 units from 500,000 projected at the beginning of the year.
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