Taiwan: Stocks drop; TSMC down after bleak forecast

[TAIPEI] Taiwan stocks declined 0.77 per cent on Friday, hampered by semiconductors and a poor forecast by world's largest contract chip maker Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co Ltd (TSMC).

The main TAIEX index fell 74.65 points to 9582.22 as of 0201 GMT, after closing up 1.22 per cent on Thursday.

The electronics subindex was down 1.12 per cent, with semiconductors suffering a 2.4 per cent decline.

On Thursday Apple Inc supplier TSMC said revenue in the current quarter would drop by several percentage points from the January-March period, while painting a relatively bleak forecast for the semiconductor industry as a whole.

TSMC stock fell 2.72 per cent and dragged down peers United Microelectronics Corp and Advanced Semiconductor Engineering Inc, which fell 2.04 and 2.19 per cent respectively.

The Taiwan dollar was up T$0.120 at T$31.134 to the US dollar.

REUTERS