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Taiwanese shares tumble after Wall Street’s decline

Taiwanese shares closed 1.64 percent lower yesterday after Wall Street’s steep decline overnight, dealers said.

The weighted index fell 105.35 points to 6,307.28 on turnover of NT$96.74 billion (US$3.04 billion).

Losers outnumbered gainers by 1,398 to 530 with 362 stocks unchanged.

The market opened sharply lower across the board but some ground was recovered on bargain-hunting, dealers said.

“Wall Street’s dive has raised concerns over the global economy. Investors are afraid that Taiwan’s already slowing economy will be further hurt by international factors,” President Securities (統一證券) analyst Steven Huang said.

“Market sentiment has been so dampened after the sharp declines seen in the past few sessions that it is likely the market will consolidate for a long time,” Huang said.

For the week, the weighted index lost 738.83 points or 10.49 percent after a 1.95 percent increase a week earlier. Average daily turnover stood at NT$92.12 billion, compared with NT$82.05 billion the week before.

Most Asian markets fell yesterday amid mounting concerns about a slumping US economy. European shares also opened lower.

In Japan, the benchmark Nikkei 225 index sank 2.75 percent at 12,212.23.

Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index tumbled 2.24 percent to 19,933.28, dropping below 20,000 for the first time in more than a year.

In China, selling was heavy across the board, with the key index falling 3.3 percent to 2,202.45. Markets in India, Australia and Singapore were also down sharply.

In morning trading in Europe, Britain’s FTSE 100 was down 1.73 percent to 5,269.10, Germany’s DAX fell 1.72 percent to 6,171.28 and France’s CAC 40 lost 1.62 percent to 4,234.26.

Mark Matthews, chief Asia strategist at Merrill Lynch, said that emerging markets in Asia and other regions have been hit hard recently because investors withdrew funds and faith in the global economy withered.

“People want to be confidant that the economy of the world can get better, and right now they don’t have that confidence,” Matthews said. “They think the global economy is still going to get worse.”

Pessimism permeated markets as they nervously awaited last month’s US employment report due later yesterday. News on Thursday from major US retailers that shoppers curtailed their spending last month helped send the Dow Jones industrial average down 344.65 points, or 2.99 percent, to 11,188.23.

“It was ugly in the States; many are still taking their leads from the US,” said Lorraine Tan (陳麗子), director at Standard & Poor’s equity research in Singapore. “And there’s just an overall concern with global growth.”
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