Share prices closed 1.43 percent lower, in line with losses in markets around the region and on Wall Street overnight, dealers said.
They said the bellwether electronics stocks were under especially heavy pressure as the negative offshore lead prompted profit-taking on recent gains.
The weighted index fell 95.97 points at 6,624.11, just off the low of 6,623.23 and after a high of 6,715.18, on turnover of NT$84.17 billion (US$2.6 billion).
Decline led gains 819 to 260, with 127 stocks unchanged.
The textile sector was down 1.67 percent, electronics lost 1.59 percent and financials shed 1.26 percent.
Yuanta Core Pacific Securities (
The local bourse's weakness was really not unexpected given similar showings throughout the region in the wake of Wall Street's declines overnight, he said.
Meanwhile, investors had little to hope for on the political front to justify bargain-hunting in the immediate term, he said.
Given Washington's recent note of alarm about the nation's stance towards China, investors would rather wait for President Chen Shui-bian's (陳水扁) next moves following his recent statement about scrapping a set of guidelines on reunification with the Chinese mainland and the body that created them, he added.
Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (
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