Taiwan: Stocks fall ahead of central bank meeting

[TAIPEI] Taiwan stocks fell on Thursday, heading for their third straight session of declines, ahead of a widely anticipated rate cut by the central bank at its policy meeting after market hours.

The central bank is expected to cut its policy interest rate for the third meeting in a row as weak global demand continues to weigh on the island's trade-reliant economy, a Reuters poll showed.

13 out of 14 analysts polled expect the bank to trim the discount rate by 12.5 basis points (bps) to 1.5 per cent, while one thought it would be cut by 25 bps.

As of 0215 GMT, the main TAIEX index was down 0.6 per cent at 8,716.02, after closing 0.2 per cent lower in the previous session.

The electronics subindex sank 0.6 per cent, while the financials subindex lost 0.9 per cent.

The Taiwan dollar firmed T$0.023 to T$32.602 per US dollar.

REUTERS