Taiwan stocks fell, led by Acer Inc (
The TWSE Index dropped 56.27, or 1.1 percent, to 5176.45, after falling as much as 1.7 percent. Within the index, 324 stocks fell and 129 rose.
The total value of trade today was NT$37.5 billion (US$1.1 billion), the lowest this year.
The fire "will hurt Acer's shares," said Simon Chao, who manages NT$700 million (US$21 million) in Taiwan stocks at President Investment Corp (
Chao also said he cut his exposure to local stocks in his portfolio to below 80 percent from 90 percent a month ago, as the island's chipmakers last week reported sales in April fell as much as a fifth from the previous month.
"The news is not good for the market. Investor confidence is low" because of declining sales, he said.
Acer Inc fell NT$1.20, or 6.2 percent, to NT$18.10, after earlier falling as low as NT$18. The fire caused an estimated NT$670 million damage to property, inventory and equipment. Fire insurance didn't cover NT$130 million of the damage. It wrecked offices in a 26-floor building that included Acer subsidiaries including Aopen Inc, Hi-Trust Co (
Chunghwa Telecom Co (中華電信) rose NT$1, or 1.5 percent, to NT$66.50. The government will sell as much as 5 percent of its holding in Chunghwa Telecom to raise funds to fill a budget deficit forecast to reach NT$195 billion (US$5.9 billion) this year. As many as 482 million shares of the company's stock will be sold, pending regulatory approval, at a price to be set by a government committee, said Wang Ting-chun, a section chief at Taiwan's ministry of transportation and communications.
Private investors hold less than 3 percent of Chunghwa's stock.
Compal Electronics Inc (
It's selling 100 million new shares in the form of global depositary shares, according to a share sale document circulated among potential investors and obtained by Bloomberg.
Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC,
President Tseng Fan-cheng (
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