Taiwan shares end down as investors await results of tariff talks with U.S.

Taipei, July 29 (CNA) Shares in Taiwan closed lower Tuesday with selling seen almost across the board amid lingering worries over U.S. tariff policies as investors remained anxious before a conclusion of talks between Taipei and Washington, dealers said.

The Taiex, the weighted index on the Taiwan Stock Exchange (TWSE), ended down 211.46 points, or 0.90 percent, at 23,201.52 after moving between 23,094.67 and 23,422.17. Turnover totaled NT$370.57 billion (US$12.47 billion).

"With the Trump administration scheduled to implement its reciprocal tariffs on Aug. 1, investors in the local market appeared more and more anxious as trade talks have not yielded any conclusion," Concord Securities analyst Kerry Huang said.

"Judging from today's movement, I think many investors simply locked in their gains built in the past few sessions amid growing fears over any negative leads from the negotiations," Huang said.

Huang said the bellwether electronics sector came under pressure throughout the session, down 0.89 percent, with the semiconductor subindex falling 1.00 percent.

"In addition to a reciprocal tariff, the U.S. is planning to impose a levy on semiconductors, which serve as the backbone of Taiwan's exports, and such a tariff could hurt Taiwan more," Huang said.

Contract chipmaker Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. (TSMC), the most heavily weighted stock here, lost 0.87 percent to close at NT$1,135.00, contributing about 80 points to the Taiex's decline.

Among other chip stocks, smartphone IC designer MediaTek Inc. shed 2.86 percent to end at NT$1,360.00, memory chip supplier Nanya Technology Corp. fell 2.54 percent to close at NT$42.20, and TSMC's application-specific integrated circuit (ASIC) design unit Global Unichip Corp. ended down 2.02 percent at NT$1,210.00.

Artificial intelligence-related stocks were hit by the sell-off, adding pressure to the broader tech sector.

IPhone assembler and AI server maker Hon Hai Precision Industry Co. fell 2.56 percent to close at NT$171.50, and Quanta Computer Inc., another AI server supplier, shed 1.65 percent to end at NT$267.50.

Printed circuit board stocks bucked the downturn on rotational buying with Zhen Ding Technology Holding Ltd. soaring 8.97 percent to close at NT$127.50 and Kinsus Interconnect Technology Corp. rising 6.00 percent to end at NT$106.00.

"Old economy stocks also appeared vulnerable to a reciprocal tariff, which will drag down their global competitiveness, so many of them were just weakening today," Huang said.

Formosa Plastics Corp. shed 3.12 percent to close at NT$38.80, and Nan Ya Plastics Corp. dropped 3.1 percent to end at NT$35.85. In addition, China Steel Corp., the largest steelmaker in Taiwan, lost 1.03 percent to close at NT$19.20.

As the Ministry of National Defense has launched a program to buy drones, so-called military concept stocks moved higher with Thunder Tiger Corp. surging 10 percent, the maximum daily increase, to close at NT$87.70, and Air Asia Co. rising 1.03 percent to end at NT$39.15.

In the financial sector, which lost 0.68 percent, Fubon Financial Holding Co. lost 0.97 percent to close at NT$82.00, and Cathay Financial Holding Co. also dropped 0.97 percent to end at NT$61.30.

According to the TWSE, foreign institutional investors sold a net NT$16.46 billion worth of shares on the main board Tuesday.