Taiwan: Stocks fall tracking China, HK markets

[TAIPEI] Taiwan stocks erased early gains to trade lower on Wednesday with all sectors in the red as losses in Chinese and Hong Kong equities hurt sentiment.

The main TAIEX index was down 1.3 per cent at 8,526.17 as of 0350 GMT, after ending down 0.3 per cent in the previous session. Earlier in the session, it rose as much as 0.7 per cent.

The electronics subindex sank 1.2 per cent, while the financials subindex lost 0.6 per cent.

Among actively traded shares, big-cap stocks TSMC and Hon Hai Precision were down around 2 per cent each.

CTBC Financial shares fell 0.6 percent, while Cathay Financial was down 0.4 per cent.

Taiwan's export orders are expected to have declined in March for the 12th month in a row, a Thomson Reuters poll found, signalling the export-dependent economy remains on the ropes.

Taiwan will release its March export orders data after market hours later in the day.

The Taiwan dollar firmed T$0.042 to T$32.223 per US dollar.

REUTERS