TAIPEI: Shares in Taiwan took a beating Wednesday, led by the bellwether electronics sector, falling about 100 points to close below the 11,200-point mark, dealers said. Contract chipmaker Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. (TSMC), which had gained significantly in recent sessions, suffered heavy downward pressure that pushed the broader market lower, stopping an eight-session winning streak, the dealers said.
The weighted index on the Taiwan Stock Exchange closed down 100.95 points, or 0.90 percent, at 11,152.16, after moving between 11,107.32 and 11,228.71, on turnover of NT$144.342 billion (US$4.93 billion). The market opened down 0.22 percent as investors took cues from a mixed Wall Street, where the Dow Jones Industrial Average gave up earlier gains to end down 0.01 percent, while the S&P 500 index closed up 0.22 percent overnight, the dealers said. Selling escalated from around 9:30 a.m. as TSMC, the most heavily weighted stock in the local market, faced increasing downward pressure with investors rushing to pocket gains built up in recent sessions, they said. Downward pressure also spread to other large-cap stocks in both the tech and non-tech sectors, pushing down the weighted index below the 5-day moving average of 11,171 at the end of the session, they added. The main board has gained significantly since the beginning of this year. I am not surprised at all that investors locked in their profits at the moment,” Ta Ching Securities analyst Andy Hsu said. Before Wednesday’s pullback, the weighted index had risen 610.25 points, or 5.73 percent, so far this year. TSMC became the main victim of today’s selling, since it was the stock that led the broader market to post significant gains in recent sessions,” Hsu said. TSMC, the world’s largest contract chipmaker, shed 3.01 percent to close at NT$258.00, with 41.79 million shares changing hands. After an investor conference held Jan. 18, when TSMC gave better-than- expected sales guidance for 2018, the stock has risen more than 7 percent, serving as a driver to the upturn on the main board.
Selling was also seen among other market heavyweights, with iPhone assembler Hon Hai Precision Industry Co. down 1.03 percent to close at NT$95.90 and Largan Precision Co., a smartphone camera lens supplier to Apple Inc., falling 4.41 percent to end at NT$3,790.00.
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