The TAIEX closed lower yesterday as investors acted cautiously ahead of the Double Ten National Day long weekend and sold shares to profit from early gains, dealers said.
Stocks across every sector faced downward pressure after an early upturn, but some large-cap stocks, including contract chipmaker Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電), encountered late buying to limit the broader market’s losses, they said.
The TAIEX closed down 73.43 points, or 0.44 percent, at 16,640.43. Turnover totaled NT$271.032 billion (US$9.66 billion).
Selling, focused particularly on steel and shipping stocks, soon set in to push the benchmark index into negative territory.
“Compared with other regional markets, which were also lifted by the US markets today, the Taipei market showed weakness after coming off its early gains,” Cathay Futures Consultant Co (國泰證期顧問) analyst Tsai Ming-han (蔡明翰) said, referring to Tokyo, Hong Kong and Shanghai.
“Many investors here preferred to pocket their profits amid fears over possible unfavorable leads from overseas during the long weekend,” Tsai said.
The local stock market will be closed on Monday on the final day of the three-day holiday weekend.
“The bright spot was that bargain hunters remained active to pick up select market heavyweights to cap the downturn, but as turnover was thin, their impact appeared limited,” Tsai said.
One of the stocks that saw support late was TSMC, which fell 0.86 percent to close at NT$575.00 after hitting a low of NT$573.00 as some investors used the stock’s large weighting to support the broader market, dealers said.
In line with TSMC’s performance, the electronics index closed down 0.47 percent at 783.74, off a low of 781.92.
Another stock that received late support was iPhone assembler Hon Hai Precision Industry Co (鴻海精密), second to TSMC in terms of market capitalization. It closed up 0.93 percent at NT$108.00.
Also bucking the downward trend in the sector was power management solutions provider Delta Electronics Inc (台達電), which gained 0.80 percent to close at NT$250.50.
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