Taiwan stocks fell, led by lenders such as Chinatrust Commercial Bank (
The TAIEX dropped 29.96 points, or 0.6 percent, to 4,709.20.
Five stocks fell for every two that rose. Yesterday's turnover amounted to NT$27.6 billion (US$800 million), the second lowest this year.
"If the government keeps on intervening in the market, it makes it very hard for banks to improve their profitability," said Patrick Winsbury, an analyst at Moody's in Singapore.
A number of lenders dropped on concerns that earnings will be hurt by the government's insistence that banks continue lending even as they try to reduce bad loans. Moody's said in a report yesterday after the market closed that "policy-led decision-making" in Taiwan will impede banks' profit growth.
Chinatrust Commercial Bank, the second-largest in Taiwan by market value, fell NT$0.60, or 2.5 percent, to NT$23. International Commercial Bank of China (
China Steel Corp (
Taiwan's biggest steelmaker said yesterday it will ask Japan's five largest steel companies to invest in a new ?700 billion (US$5.6 billion) mill to double the company's production capacity.
Hualon Corp (
Nanya Technology Corp (南亞科技) had fallen NT$0.40, or 2 percent, to NT$19.30 by the closing bell. The DRAM maker said it will sell NT$10 billion (US$290 million) of shares to fund DRAM production expansion.
Powerchip Semiconductor Corp (
ProMOS Technologies Inc (
Siliconware Precision Industries Co (
Yageo Corp (
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