Taiwan: Stocks down on profit-taking ahead of UK referendum

[TAIPEI] Taiwan stocks fell Thursday on profit-taking and caution ahead of a key vote in the UK that has raised global market volatility.

British voters will vote in a referendum later in the session on whether to remain in the European Union.

As of 0219 GMT, the main Taiex index was down 0.5 per cent at 8,670.25 points, after closing up 0.4 per cent in the previous session at a two-and-a-half month high. Stocks have been on a steady rise for four consecutive sessions.

The electronics subindex sank 0.4 per cent, while the financials subindex lost 0.5 per cent.

Taiwan's exposure to the UK is mainly in non-tech areas such as financial services. Taiwanese banks that have branches in London tend to deal with loan syndication business denominated in US dollars, and their exposure to UK assets in a bank's overall portfolio is small.

First Financial Holding Co was down 0.3 per cent, while Mega Financial was down 0.8 per cent. Both operate branches in the UK

The Taiwan dollar firmed T$0.058 to T$32.163 per US dollar.

REUTERS