Taiwan shares end down as U.S. markets lose steam

Taipei, Dec. 18 (CNA) Shares in Taiwan closed lower on Thursday, led by electronics stocks, after renewed concerns about an AI bubble drove overnight losses in the United States, dealers said.

The Taiex, the Taiwan Stock Exchange's benchmark index, ended down 56.64 points, or 0.21 percent, at 27,468.53 after moving between 27,350.77 and 27,569.44. Turnover totaled NT$446.41 billion (US$14.16 billion).

The local market largely fluctuated below the previous closing level following a 1.81 percent decline on the tech-heavy Nasdaq index on Wednesday, following reports that a major investor of Oracle withdrew from one of the American cloud service provider's infrastructure projects, Concord Capital Management analyst Lu Chin-wei said.

"That renewed fears over AI bubbles, triggering selling in Taiwan's large-cap AI-related stocks," Lu said. Oracle has disputed the report.

"Investors seized on the lead as an excuse to pocket their recent gains," Lu said. "The silver lining was that the Taiex recovered from its initial downturn by the end of the session."

Lu said the index saw strong technical support ahead of 27,400 points around the 60-day moving average.

Contract chipmaker Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. (TSMC), the most heavily weighted stock here, closed unchanged at NT$1,430.00, off a low of NT$1,415.00, while smartphone IC designer MediaTek Inc. lost 0.35 percent to end at NT$1,420.00 after hitting a low of NT$1,415.00.

Memory chip supplier Nanya Technology Corp. bucked the downtrend, rising 3.34 percent to close at NT$170.00 after U.S.-based counterpart Micron Technology Inc. gave a strong outlook for the current quarter.

Also in the tech sector, AI server maker and iPhone assembler Hon Hai Precision Industry Co. fell 0.23 percent to end at NT$216.00, off a low of NT$213.50 while Delta Electronics Inc., a power management provider for AI devices, rose 0.11 percent to close at NT$891.00.

"The financial sector stayed resilient. I suspect government-led funds stood behind the buying to prevent the broader market from falling further," Lu said.

With the financial index up 0.12 percent, Cathay Financial Holding Co. rose 1.64 percent to end at NT$74.40, and CTBC Financial Holding Co. added 0.82 percent to close at NT$49.35.

Rotational buying kept moving around old economy industries, with food brand Uni-President Enterprises Corp. rising 2.73 percent to close at NT$79.00, and rival Ve Wong Corp. adding 1.14 percent to end at NT$39.90.

However, China Steel Corp., the largest steelmaker in Taiwan, lost 0.82 percent to close at NT$18.25 and Tung Ho Steel Corp. ended down 0.46 percent at NT$65.10.

According to the TWSE, foreign institutional investors sold a net NT$27.01 billion worth of shares on the main board on Thursday.