TAI PEI: Shares in Taiwan closed little changed Wednesday after earlier gains were eroded by late session selling which targeted Formosa Petrochemical Corp., pushing down the market to the day’s low at the end of trading, dealers said.
Before the late session selling, the local main board had remained relatively quiet with many investors staying on the sidelines, waiting for the conclusion of a U.S. Federal Reserve meeting later Wednesday, they said.
The weighted index on the Taiwan Stock Exchange, or the Taiex, ended up 0.23 points at the day’s low of 11,011.07, off an early high of 11,072.31, on turnover of NT$129.96 billion (US$4.45 billion).
The market opened up 0.24 percent in the wake of a higher Wall Street, where the Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 0.47 percent and the tech-heavy NASDAQ index gained 0.27 percent on a technical rebound overnight, dealers said.
As the Taiex moved closer to the 11,100 point mark, gains were capped as selling increased in the late trading session with Formosa Petrochemical in focus, they said.
“It could be just for trading purposes and have nothing to do fundamentals since other petrochemical heavyweights still moved higher,” Chu said.
In the petrochemical sector, shares in Formosa Plastics Corp. rose 1.43 percent to end at NT$106.50, and Formosa Chemicals & Fibre Corp. gained 0.45 percent to end at NT$111.00.
“In addition, TSMC (Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co.) recovered part of its earlier losses in the late session, preventing the broader market from falling further,” Chu said.
