Taiwan shares close lower as investors take profits

Taipei, Sept. 15 (CNA) Shares in Taiwan closed lower Monday as investors locked in profits from last week, waiting for the conclusion of the U.S. Federal Reserve's upcoming policymaking meeting, scheduled for early Thursday (Taipei time), dealers said.

The Taiex, the weighted index on the Taiwan Stock Exchange (TWSE), ended down 117.48 points, or 0.46 percent, at 25,357.16 after moving between 25,284.17 and 25,519.94. Turnover totaled NT$397.45 billion (US$13.12 billion).

"With the index moving closer to its historical intraday high of 25,541 points (on Sept. 11) in the early morning session today, investors turned cautious," Moore Securities Investment Consulting analyst Adam Lin said. "Some of them simply shifted to the sell side to take profits made last week."

Last week, the Taiex soared 980.76 points, or 4 percent, on hopes that the Fed will kick off a rate cut cycle.

"Before the Fed concludes the meeting, investors prefer to take a pause now," Lin said. "Fortunately, selling was tolerable as many large-cap tech stocks appeared resilient."

Among tech heavyweights, contract chipmaker Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. (TSMC) moved in a narrow range, falling 0.40 percent to close at NT$1,255.00, while smartphone IC designer MediaTek Inc. ended unchanged at NT$1,485.00.

In addition, iPhone assembler Hon Hai Precision Industry Co. dropped 0.69 percent to close at NT$216.00, and IC packaging and testing services provider ASE Technology Holding Co. fell 0.30 percent to end at NT$166.50.

Bucking the downturn, memory chip supplier Nanya Technology Corp. soared 10 percent, the maximum daily increase, to close at NT$63.10 after American counterpart Micron Technology Inc. gained 4.42 percent overnight on higher product prices.

Lin said second- and third-tier tech stocks came under heavier pressure, with printed circuit board makers in focus after their recent strong showing.

Among them, Gold Circuit Electronics Ltd. shed 3.70 percent to end at NT$490.00, and Zhen Ding Technology Holding Ltd. dropped 1.78 percent to close at NT$166.00.

Co-Tech Development Corp., a supplier of copper foil for PCB use, plunged 10 percent, the maximum daily decline, to end at NT$210.50 on the over-the-counter (OTC) market.

Lin said nontech stocks largely moved lower in line with the Taiex.

Among "military concept" stocks, which had surged recently on higher government defense spending hopes, aircraft maintenance firm Air Asia Co. lost 5.12 percent to close at NT$176.00, and Lungteh Shipbuilding Co. plunged 8.15 percent to end at NT$169.00.

Meanwhile, Shihlin Electric & Engineering Corp. lost 3.08 percent to close at NT$189.00, and Fortune Electric Co. ended down 1.15 percent at NT$601.00.

In the financial sector, which lost 0.19 percent, Fubon Financial Holding Co. rose 0.34 percent to close at NT$88.80, while Cathay Financial Holding Co. ended down 0.15 percent at NT$65.40.

"As foreign institutional investors own a relatively low number of short futures positions for now, I expect this will not cause any apparent disruptions in the spot market Wednesday, the settlement day for September futures contracts," Lin said.

According to the TWSE, foreign institutional investors bought a net NT$2.55 billion worth of shares on the main board Monday despite the fall in the Taiex.