TAIPEI: Taiwan Shares closed lower Thursday amid concerns over a slow second quarter in the local high-tech sector as implied by the cautious outlook of several market analysts, dealers said.
While large-cap electronics stocks such as Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. (TSMC, 台積電) encountered downward pressure based on earnings concerns, buying rotated to some old economy stocks, in particular in the textile sector, lending support to the broader market, dealers said.
The weighted index on the Taiwan Stock Exchange ended down 33.78 points, or 0.34 percent, at the day’s low of 9,820.05, off an early high of 9,894.90. Turnover totaled NT$112.48 billion (US$3.65 billion) during the session.
The market opened down 7.65 points in a reaction to losses on Wall Street overnight after the United States reported first-quarter economic growth of only 0.2 percent year-on-year, well below the market estimate of 1 percent, dealers said.
After the initial downturn, the local bourse staged a mild technical rebound, rising to the day’s high, but selling set in again and became more obvious late in the trading session, dealers said.
