Taiwan shares end down ahead of U.S. job data

Taipei, Dec. 6 (CNA) Shares in Taiwan closed below the 23,200 point mark Friday as local investors cautiously awaited U.S. November jobs data later in the day, dealers said.

The Taiex, the Taiwan Stock Exchange's (TWSE) benchmark index, ended down 74.67 points (0.32 percent) at 23,193.27 after moving between 23,137.62 and 23,361.12. Turnover totaled NT$360.93 billion (US$11.15 billion).

Concord Securities analyst Kerry Huang said market sentiment was influenced by the approaching release of U.S. nonfarm payroll data and its potential impact on the Federal Reserve's current rate cut cycle.

Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. (TSMC), the local market's most heavily weighted stock, lost 0.93 percent to close at NT$1,065.00.

Other semiconductor stocks also suffered, with smartphone IC designer MediaTek Inc. losing 1.51 percent to end at NT$1,305.00, TSMC's IC assembly equipment supplier Scientech Corp. down 0.89 percent to close at NT$444.50, and United Microelectronics Corp., a smaller contract chipmaker, down 0.23 percent at NT$43.50.

iPhone assembler and artificial intelligence (AI) server maker Hon Hai Precision Industry Co., second to TSMC in terms of market value, lost 0.50 percent to close at NT$198.00.

However, Huang said that gains for other AI stocks lent support to the wider tech sector.

AI server supplier Wistron Corp. rose 1.71 percent to end at NT$119.00, while its cloud-enabled services subsidiary Wiwynn Corp. gained 3.66 percent to close at NT$2,410.00.

Old economy stocks appeared mixed.

Formosa Plastics Corp. lost 0.85 percent to close at NT$40.15, while Nan Ya Plastics Corp. shed 1.06 percent to end at NT$37.50, and textile brand Far Eastern New Century Corp. rose 0.60 percent to close at NT$33.75.

The construction sector outperformed the broader market, ending up 2.36 percent.

Kindom Development Co. rose 5.75 percent to close at NT$62.50, and Highwealth Construction Corp. gained 3.63 percent to end at NT$48.50.

But Huang warned that many property developers "remained haunted by the local central bank's selective credit controls on the home market."

"Turnover is currently too thin to vault the Taiex over 23,500 points any time soon," Huang said.

"But, as TSMC's American depositary receipts [which rose 1.80 percent overnight] traded at a premium of about 20 percent over the stock on the local main board, the stock could stay resilient," he added.

According to the TWSE, foreign institutional investors bought a net NT$2.0 billion worth of shares on the local main board Friday.