Taiwan: Stocks down on profit-taking after five-session rally

[TAIPEI] Taiwan stocks fell on Thursday as investors booked profit after a five-session rally lifted the main index to highs not seen since mid-2015.

The main Taiex index fell 0.3 per cent to 9,767.98 points as of 0402 GMT. It hit 9,869.59 earlier in the session, the highest since May 2015.

The index, which closed up 0.8 per cent Wednesday, gained nearly 2.7 per cent over the past five sessions, underpinned by foreign-investor buying.

The electronics subindex sank 0.4 per cent, but the financials subindex gained 0.2 per cent.

Profit-taking came after the government raised its growth outlook for the trade-dependent economy this year to a three-year high on expectations of stronger exports.

The Taiwan dollar softened NT$0.072 to NT$30.837 per US dollar. However, the Taiwan dollar had earlier strengthened to as much as NT$30.660 during the session, its strongest level against the US dollar since May 2015.

REUTERS