Taiwan News
Date: 2016-05-04
By: Frances Huang, Central News Agency

Taipei, May 4 (CNA) Shares in Taiwan took another plunge Wednesday to close below the 8,200-point mark, with downward pressure rotating to the old economy and financial sectors, as investor confidence in the market prospects was hurt by massive foreign institutional selling a session earlier, dealers said. While the electronics sector faced a downturn, select heavyweights such as Hon Hai Precision Industry Co. and Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. (TSMC) appeared resilient, preventing the broader market from falling further, the dealers said.

Sentiment turned cautious ahead of a power transition from the outgoing Kuomintang to the incoming Democratic Progressive Party, as many investors were awaiting a speech to be made by President-elect Tsai Ing-wen (???) on May 20 inauguration day, which could impact cross-Taiwan Strait relations, they added.

The weighted index on the Taiwan Stock Exchange ended down 108.65 points, or 1.31 percent, at 8,185.47, after moving between 8,153.57 and 8,285.96, on turnover of NT$80.79 billion (US$2.50 billion).

The market opened down 0.14 percent on follow-through selling from a session earlier, as investors took cues from a falling Wall Street, where the Dow Jones Industrial Average closed down 0.78 percent and the tech-heavy NASDAQ index ended down 1.13 percent overnight, the dealers said.    [FULL  STORY]