Taiwan: Stocks drop; chip firms down on Nasdaq fall

[TAIPEI] Taiwan stocks fell nearly 0.8 per cent on Thursday, dragged down by marquee names in the semiconductor space on a weak showing by the US Nasdaq index.

As of 0139 GMT, the main TAIEX index was down 75.93 points to 9,591.90, after closing down 0.66 per cent on Wednesday.

The electronics subindex was down 1.39 per cent, hit by semiconductors, which fell 2.26 per cent.

The Nasdaq registered its worst fall in nearly a year on Wednesday, tumbling 2.37 per cent.

Major chip firms were hit, including Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co Ltd, the most heavily weighted company on the local stock market, and Advanced Semiconductor Engineering Inc, the world's largest chip packaging and testing company.

The latter fell 2.58 per cent, while the former tumbled 3.31 per cent.

The Taiwan dollar was up T$0.102 to stand at T$31.299 to the US dollar.

REUTERS