TAIPEI: Taiwan stocks fell on Monday, in line with regional markets and Wall Street, ahead of a Federal Reserve rate meeting later this week.
As of 0150 GMT, the main TAIEX index fell 0.5 percent to 8,720.26, after closing 0.26 percent lower in the previous session.
Weak corporate earnings and a strong U.S. dollar have cast uncertainty over the Fed’s upcoming moves, though the market does not expect the committee to raise rates this week.
The electronics subindex sank 0.6 percent, while the financials subindex lost 0.5 percent.
Leading chipmakers including world’s No.1 chip packaging and testing firm Advanced Semiconductor Engineering Inc and memory chip maker Inotera Memories Inc led declines, falling 2.5 and 2.89 percent, respectively.
This drove the overall semiconductor subindex down 1.44 percent, the worst performer among major subindexes.
Taiwan dollar firmed T$0.029 to T$31.501 per U.S. dollar.
