UMC delisting threat weakens market

Shares fell yesterday, led by chipmaker United Microelectronics Corp (UMC, 聯電) after the chipmaker said it was considering delisting from the Taiwan Stock Exchange to protest a fine for a delayed disclosure.

The TAIEX fell 7.19 points, or 0.11 percent, to 6,524.40.

"On top of declines in the US overnight, losses on UMC further weighed on the benchmark index," said Stanley Chou, an analyst at Barits Investment Service (倍利投顧).

UMC, the world's second-largest contract chipmaker by revenue and the main board's most traded stock yesterday, dropped 3.1 percent to NT$18.85.

UMC's larger rival, Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (台積電), dropped 0.5 percent to NT$63.5.

Advanced Semiconductor Engineering Inc (日月光), the world's largest chip testing and packaging firm by revenue, lost 1.2 percent to NT$30.05, extending a 1.9 percent fall on Tuesday.

"Investors continued to pocket their gains from chip packaging-and-testing stocks after their recent rally," said Jose Lee, a proprietary trader at First Taisec Securities (一銀證券).