Taiwanese share prices closed down 0.10 percent yesterday after profit-taking in late trading eroded early gains that were boosted by a strong showing on Wall Street the previous week, dealers said.
The TAIEX fell 7.70 points to 7,639.55, after moving between 7,674.26 and 7,705.11 on turnover of NT$105.36 billion (US$3.29 billion).
The market opened up 0.35 percent and briefly breached the 7,700-point mark after Wall Street ended last week with the best gains in a year, but investors then started pocketing profits amid cautious sentiment ahead of the first wave of earnings reports by US heavyweights later this week, dealers said.
The construction sector suffered the heaviest profit-taking, down 0.5 percent.
“Technically speaking, the bourse was driven by rotational buying during most of the trading session without a major sector to lead the broader market to ride out the current range in trade,” Taiwan International Securities Corp (金鼎證券) analyst Michael Chiang said.
“Due to recent significant gains in the bourse, investors have become cautious amid fears that the market may experience a pullback effect after the index moved closer to the nearest technical resistance at around 7,700 points,” Chiang said.
He said many investors were staying on the sidelines before heavyweights on Wall Street start to report earnings for the second quarter in the second half of this week.
“The market is haunted by some uncertainty over corporate earnings. A wise investor will not chase prices at the moment,” he said.
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