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Politics : Formerly About Applied Materials -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: StanX Long who wrote (63200)	4/25/2002 2:53:18 AM
From: StanX Long	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 70976

Taiwan stocks close down 1.55 pct on banks, techs (Updates closing indices, adds comment) sg.biz.yahoo.com TAIPEI, April 25 (Reuters) - Taiwan stocks closed down more than one percent on Thursday as recent high-flying financial shares like Chang Hwa Bank <2801.TW> encountered profit-taking and chip issues tracked their U.S. counterparts lower. The benchmark TAIEX <.TWII> stock index fell 99.80 points or 1.55 percent to 6,355.59, giving up Wednesday's 1.01 percent rise. Turnover was active at T$145.13 billion against T$103.43 billion in the previous session. "Financial stocks were overheating in the near term. Mounting profit-taking in the sector placed heavy pressure on the main bourse," said Kevin Lin, analyst at Fubon Securities. Chang Hwa Bank, the island's sixth largest commercial bank in terms of assets, declined the seven percent trading limit to T$20.00 after surging almost 47 percent since early April. That sent the banking and insurance sub-index <.TFNI>, the market's second-heaviest weighted sector, down 3.14 percent. In addition to financial sector's weakness, "heavy selling in TSMC and UMC by foreign investors weighed on the TAIEX as well," said Lin, referring to the world's top two contract chip makers. Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC) <2330.TW>, the market's largest weighted stock, fell 3.16 percent to T$92.00, while rival United Microelectronics Corp (UMC) <2303.TW> closed at T$55.00, falling 2.65 percent. After the market closed, TSMC said first quarter profit fell to T$6.59 billion from T$8.42 billion a year ago. The broader electronics sub-index <.TELI>, which has the dominant market weight, fell 1.86 percent, tracking a 0.58 percent fall in the U.S. Nasdaq index <.IXIC> and a 3.76 percent fall in the Philadelphia semiconductor index <.SOXX>. Taiwan tech shares often follow the lead of U.S. counterparts as many are key contract suppliers to American multinationals. (US$1=T$34.8)