TAIPEI: Shares in Taiwan closed below the 8,400-point mark Tuesday as investors were motivated by a fall on Wall Street overnight and the weakness of other regional markets to dump their holdings throughout the session, dealers said.
Selling focused on large-cap stocks in both the electronics and financial sector, while petrochemical stocks came under heavy pressure amid an overnight plunge in international crude oil prices, they said.
Market sentiment remained haunted by worries over a possible interest rate hike cycle to be launched by the U.S. Federal Reserve before the Fed opens the next policymaking meeting in mid-December, dealers said.
The weighted index on the Taiwan Stock Exchange closed down 110.41 points, or 1.31 percent, at 8,343.86, after moving between 8,335.67 and 8,453.63, on turnover of NT$86.70 billion (US$2.64 billion).
The market opened down 0.14 percent in a knee-jerk reaction to a 0.66 percent fall on the Dow Jones Industrial Average and a 0.79 percent fall on the tech-heavy Nasdaq index overnight, dealers said.
Selling escalated to push down large-cap stocks in both the electronics and non-high-tech sectors as investors responded to downturns on several major regional markets, including in Shanghai and Hong Kong, dealers explained.
