Taiwan: Stocks fall on profit-taking, tracking regional markets

[TAIPEI] Taiwan stocks fell on Thursday, tracking regional markets, as investors booked profits after the main index rallied to a one-week high in the previous session as trading winds down for the year.

Friday will be this year's last trading session and Taiwan's financial markets will be shut for a three-day holiday weekend, resuming trade on Tuesday.

The main Taiex index fell 0.2 per cent to 9,186.47 points as of 0426 GMT, after closing up one per cent at a one-week high the previous day and marking its best single-session percentage gain in three weeks.

The electronics subindex sank 0.2 per cent, while the financials subindex lost 0.2 per cent.

Among big-cap bellwether stocks, contract chipmaker Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co Ltd (TSMC) was down 0.8 per cent and Hon Hai Precision Industry was up 0.2 per cent.

The Taiwan dollar firmed NT$0.02 to NT$32.289 per US dollar.

REUTERS