Taiwan: Stocks down on weak overseas markets

[TAIPEI] Taiwan stocks fell on Wednesday as local shares played catch-up following a long holiday break and on weakness in overseas markets.

Taiwan's financial markets were shut Monday and Tuesday for public holidays.

The main TAIEX index fell 1.4 per cent to 8,536.94 as of 0132 GMT, after closing down 1 per cent on Friday.

Losses were broad based. The electronics subindex sank 1.5 per cent, while the financials subindex lost 1.5 per cent. The transport subindex and plastics subindex were both down 0.8 per cent and nearly 2 per cent, respectively.

Shares in Largan Precision Co, an Apple supplier and maker of lenses for smartphone cameras, shed nearly 5 per cent on open before recovering some of the lost ground.

The company said Tuesday that its first-quarter revenue sank 22 per cent from a year ago, after March sales fell 23 per cent on year.

The Taiwan dollar softened T$0.04 to T$32.418 per US dollar.

REUTERS