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TAIEX edges down amid market volatility

A woman grimaces in front of the stock monitors at a local trading house in Taipei on Friday. The TAIEX lost 40.62 points to close at 7,630.15 yesterday. PHOTO: AP

Taiwanese share prices closed 0.53 percent lower yesterday as investors remained wary about volatile global markets following a big drop on Chinese markets this week and worries over the US economy, dealers said.

A tumble overnight on Wall Street, which ended with its biggest weekly loss in more than four years, added to the caution, they said.

The Taiwanese bourse had a special trading session yesterday to make up for market closure on Feb. 23 over the Lunar New Year holidays.

The weighted index closed 40.62 points lower at 7,630.15 in a range of 7,587.80 and 7,670.50 yesterday, with turnover at NT$89.95 billion (US$2.73 billion).

Decliners led risers 845 to 325, with 172 stocks unchanged.

Two stocks closed limit-down and 26 limit-up.

The construction sector was down 2.09 percent, paper down 1.96 percent, food down 1.17 percent, cement down 0.72 percent, plastics/petrochemical down 0.71 percent, textiles down 0.64 percent, financials down 0.41 percent and electronics down 0.39 percent.

Rangebound consolidation with a negative bias seems likely to continue dominating trade for a while, SinoPac Securities Corp (永豐金證券) assistant vice president Alvin Teng (鄧可欣) said.

"The bear may still have a while to go, as has been clearly shown by Wall Street," he said.

With quite a few foreign investors away from the trading floor yesterday because of the weekend, it was too early to say whether their sell-off had ended, he added.

Share prices elsewhere in the region closed mainly lower on Friday, but some calm returned to global markets following recent volatility which continued overnight on Wall Street.

Most Asian markets opened lower, causing renewed jitters about whether this week's sharp falls -- sparked by Tuesday's biggest one-day losses for 10 years in Shanghai -- are a one-off correction or an end to the market uptrend. The rollercoaster ride then continued and shares made a brief recovery with many benchmarks entering positive territory by the early afternoon which prompted another round of mild profit taking.

TOKYO

Share prices closed down 1.35 percent, the fourth straight day of losses, as investors remained anxious about the health of global markets.

Dealers said a stronger yen also weighed on sentiment, although stocks ended off their lows as markets elsewhere in the region showed signs of steadying.

The NIKKEI-225 index fell by 235.58 points to 17,217.93.

HONG KONG

Share prices closed 0.49 percent higher on bargain-hunting in China Mobile and other blue chips after steep falls over the past five sessions, with select H-shares also supported after the mainland bourses put in a positive performance.

Dealers said the market came off its highs in late trade as investors turned cautious ahead of HSBC's results announcement for last year tomorrow, and due to lingering worries over global market volatility.

The Hang Seng Index closed up 95.41 points at 19,442.01.

SEOUL

Share prices closed 0.2 percent lower as foreign sell offs and futures-linked program selling in late trade offset bargain-hunting interest by retail investors.

The KOSPI index closed down 2.87 points at 1,414.47.

SHANGHAI

Share prices closed 1.23 percent higher amid bargain-hunting, capping a roller-coaster week that included the biggest one-day fall in a decade.

Dealers said that the market focused on cheap property and financial stocks in trade that hovered near the no-gain line before firmly entrenching itself in positive territory after Tuesday's fall of 8.84 percent.

Tuesday's slide, the sharpest decline in Shanghai in 10 years, kicked off a wild week, with shares bouncing back nearly four percent on Wednesday, only to slide three percent the following day.

The Shanghai Composite Index, which covers A and B-shares, rose 34.33 points to 2,831.52 on Friday.

SYDNEY

Share prices closed down 0.42 percent with investor sentiment remaining negative after the global equity rout earlier in the week.

The SP/ASX 200 closed down 24.2 points at 5,786.0.

SINGAPORE

Share prices closed 0.45 percent lower, bringing the market's decline over four straight days to 7.07 percent.

Dealers said the market pared back marginal gains from earlier on Friday after renewed weakness on Wall Street and a subsequent mixed showing across regional bourses.

The Straits Times Index (STI) closed down 13.84 points at 3,078.74.

KUALA LUMPUR

Share prices closed 1.37 percent lower as selling pressure intensified in the afternoon session of trade.

Dealers said investors were reluctant to commit to positions ahead of the weekend after the recent global sell-off.

The composite index closed down 16.23 points at 1,164.68.

MUMBAI

Share prices slid 2.08 percent in nervous and volatile trade as investors locked in gains and steered clear of building up fresh positions ahead of the weekend.

Dealers said largely weak Asian markets kept trading sentiment subdued with capital goods, software and automobile stocks taking a hit.

The 30-share SENSEX index fell 273.42 points to 12,886.13.
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