Taiwan's key stock index fell for the first time in eight days, led by Taiwan Semiconductor Manufac-turing Co (TSMC, 台積電), as investors don't expect demand in the industry to recover any time soon.
The TWSE Index fell 59.95, or 1.3 percent, to 4,470.73, after dropping as much as 1.8 percent. Within the index, 258 stocks fell and 187 rose. The total value of trade yesterday was NT$40.70 billion (US$1.18 billion), down from Friday's trade of NT$71.66 billion.
"You need a major pick-up in PC demand for electronic stocks" to rise further, said Eric Breval, chief investment officer who helps manage US$200 million in investments in Asia at Gerifonds in Lausanne, Switzerland. "I don't think we'll have a major bounce," in the market.
TSMC fell NT$1, or 1.5 percent, to NT$68 after its U.S. shares dropped on Friday. The world's biggest made-to-order chipmaker's American depositary receipts fell 3.2 percent to US$16.45. TSMC said at the release of its second-quarter earnings two weeks ago the chip industry was in a "severe downturn" and the rate of use of equipment at its factories would fall below 40 percent this quarter.
United Microelectronics Corp (UMC, 聯電) fell NT$0.80, or 2 percent, to NT$39.50. On Friday, the ADRs of TSMC's biggest rival fell 5.8 percent to US$8.35.
Chunghwa Telecom Co Ltd (中華電信) fell NT$1.70, or 3.6 percent, to NT$45. Shares in Taiwan's biggest phone company have gained 14 percent since a record low on July 19. The TWSE Index is up 6.7 percent during the same time.
China Development Industrial Bank (中華開發銀行) fell NT$0.50, or 2.3 percent, to NT$21.70. Lone Star Group, a Texas-based investment fund, and China Development Industrial Bank, Taiwan's largest lender by market value, plan to start a company that will buy the bad loans of the nation's financial institutions.
Lone Star signed a memorandum of understanding and confidentiality agreement with China Development Industrial Bank last month, said James Ouyang, the project adviser at the Taiwan lender.
Macronix International Ltd (旺宏電子) fell NT$0.80, or 2.6 percent, to NT$29.90.
Some memory chipmakers declined as the spot price for the 64-megabit dynamic random access memory chip remained at a tenth of their cost a year ago. It's now worth US$0.82, down from almost US$9 a year ago, according to DRAM Exchange, a market place for memory chips.
Mosel Vitelic Inc (
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