Taiwan: Stocks down, Apple suppliers mostly extend fall

[TAIPEI] Taiwan stocks fell on Thursday as Apple Inc's suppliers mostly fell for the second day after the iPhone maker's first-ever fall in smartphone sales wiped off about US$36 billion in market value, evoking talk of "peak iPhone".

As of 0423 GMT, the main Taiex index fell 1.1 per cent, to 8,473.49, after closing at 8,563.05 in the previous session.

The electronics subindex lost 1.2 per cent, while the financials subindex slipped 1.2 per cent.

Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC), the world's top contract chip maker, was off 1.6 per cent. TSMC was down 0.9 per cent the previous day.

Pegatron, an electronics product maker which counts Apple as a key customer, lost 3 per cent, slipping from a 0.4 per cent increase in the previous session.

Hon Hai Precision, which assembles iPhones and is the world's biggest electronics components maker, lost 0.6 per cent, after a 0.9-per cent drop on Wednesday.

The Taiwan dollar firmed T$0.008 to T$32.337 per US dollar.

REUTERS