Taiwanese shares closed down 1.82 percent yesterday after a Wall Street dive overnight and an oil price rebound, dealers said.
The weighted index fell 134.46 points to 7,233.62, off a low of 7,170.36 and a high of 7,234.12, on turnover of NT$87.55 billion (US$2.88 billion).
Financials led the downside, falling 3.25 percent after disappointing US home sales data for last month, amid worries the sector’s exposure to US mortgage-backed securities could hurt profitability, dealers said.
The bellwether electronics sector was down 1.78 percent but tourism was up 1.37 percent.
CONCERNS
Decliners outnumbered gainers by 1,746 to 461 with 306 stocks unchanged. Weaker-than-expected US home sales data has raised concerns over the US economy, Mega Securities Corp (兆豐證券) analyst Alex Huang (黃國偉) said.
He said a rebound in international crude oil prices added further economic uncertainty.
“Such negative factors did upset investors in global markets on fears that US equity markets will face more turbulence down the road. Without a stable Wall Street, Taiwan’s market cannot avoid further volatility,” Huang said.
POCKETING PROFIT
Huang said investors also used the Wall Street tumble as an excuse to pocket profit they had earned from a recent significant rebound in the financial sector.
For the week to Friday, the weighted index closed up 418.30 points or 6.14 percent. It lost 5.93 percent the previous week.
Average daily turnover stood at NT$105.67 billion, compared with NT$105.63 billion.
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