Taiwan shares end lower on profit-taking

Taipei, July 16, 2003 (CENS)--Taiwan shares ended lower yesterday, as investors chose to lock in early gains made on overnight gains on Wall Street, analysts said.

Technology issues led the declines as investors were disappointed over the performance of United Microelectronics Corp., which went ex-dividend during the session.

The weighted price index of the Taiwan Stock Exchange fell 14.08 points, or 0.26%, to 5335.86 in dealings valued at NT$133.40 billion. Decliners outnumbered advancers 336 to 306, while 103 stocks ended trading flat.

UMC, the most actively traded electronics issue, closed down 0.7% at NT$25.30, off its intraday high of NT$26.20. Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing, meanwhile, ended flat at NT$59.50.

Overall, the electronics sector closed down 0.65%, with most issues of notebook computers, motherboards and DRAM chips losing ground on profit-taking.

Quanta Computer lost NT$2 to NT$80, Compal Electronics slid NT$1.40 to NT$49.60, Asustek Computer slipped NT$0.50 to NT$99, while Winbond Electronics shed NT$0.20 to NT$20.20.

Of other sectors, financials went down 0.7%, while construction stocks were up 4.55%, transportation issues gained 3.08%, paper issues rose 2.97% and textiles advanced 1.61%.

Construction stocks received momentum, thanks to the legislature's passage last week of a bill allowing real estate securitization.

Cathay Construction went up NT$0.30 to NT$10.35 and BES Engineering gained NT$0.10 to NT$5.10.

The price index of the over-the-counter market ended 0.23 point, or 0.21%, lower to 111.16 in dealings valued at NT$19.51 billion.

July index futures on Taiwan's futures exchange closed down 84 points to 5328 on turnover of 18,194 lots. July electronics futures shed 3.20 points to 238.10 on volume 2,640 lots, while July financial futures slid 9.40 points to 731.80 on turnover of 1,414 lots.