Taiwan shares fell for a second day, paced by Mosel Vitelic Inc and memory chipmakers, after a Mosel board member disclosed plans to sell 5 million shares -- a sign investors were fretting that corporate sales will fall short of expectations after last month's earthquake halted production.
Limiting the decline, Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co rose after saying it lowered its estimated sales losses as production was back on track sooner than expected after the quake.
The benchmark TWSE Index shed 55.38, or 0.7 percent, to 7501.63, its sixth fall since the Sept. 21 quake. Sixteen of the 19 sub-indexes were in negative territory. Some 388 issues fell, 80 rose and 59 were unchanged. Trading totaled NT$69.2 billion, little more than three-fifths of the three-month daily average.
"The concern that this year's economic growth will be hurt by the disaster will be spooking investors," said James Tsui, manager of Grand Pacific Securities Investment Trust's NT$3 billion Mainstream Fund. "The main index is under pressure to fall to 7400." Tsui said he plans to keep his position at 60 percent of stocks as he's cautious about the market.
electronics
Computer memory chipmakers fell. The sales plan of Mosel's board member raised concern the stock's 9.4 percent gain in less than two weeks isn't justified given the damage incurred by the company.
Mosel dropped NT$0.50, or 1.4 percent, to NT$35. Winbond Electronics Corp, a contract manufacturer of Toshiba Corp., slid NT$1, or 1.8 percent, to NT$55.50. Pro Mos Technologies Inc, a supplier of Siemens AG, fell NT$0.50, or 0.7 percent, to NT$72.
TSMC, the world's biggest custom-designed chipmaker, gained NT$1.50, or 1.2 percent, to NT$131.50 and was the third-most actively traded share by value. On Tuesday, TSMC cut its forecast for quake-related losses in sales from an earlier prediction of NT$2.8 billion, Steve Tso, a senior vice president, told the press.
United Microelectronics Corp, TSMC's closest rival, jumped NT$1.50, or 2 percent, to NT$75.50 and was the most active by market value.
Foreign investors on Tuesday were net buyers of 4.7 million shares -- more than any other stock -- suggesting UMC will be able to recover from the quake sooner than analysts expected.
"Despite the short-term earnings impact in 1999, we do not expect any quake damage on the company's long-term earnings prospects," said Andrew Lu, a senior analyst with Credit Suisse First Boston.
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