Taiwan: Stocks down following overseas markets, financials lead falls

[TAIPEI] Taiwan stocks fell on Thursday, mainly following losses in overseas markets and led by selling in banking and insurance shares.

The main TAIEX index fell 0.64 per cent to 9,755.07 as of 0222 GMT, after closing down 0.02 per cent on Wednesday.

Shares of Fubon Financial, Cathay Financial and Taishin Financial were each falling more than 1 percent, mostly keeping pace with the 1.2 per cent decline in the financial subindex, which had run up 8.4 per cent since mid-April.

The electronics subindex was down 0.5 per cent, with shares of Pegatron off 1.5 per cent. The Taiwanese assembler of mobile gadgets is due to issue its first-quarter earnings after market close Thursday.

The Taiwan dollar was up T$0.071 to stand at T$30.682 to the US dollar.

REUTERS