Taiwan: Stocks fall on weak GDP data, overseas markets

[TAIPEI] Taiwan stocks fell more than 1 per cent on Friday as worse-than-expected GDP data and weak overseas markets hurt investor sentiment.

Taiwan's economy contracted a preliminary 0.84 per cent in the first quarter of this year compared with a year earlier, the statistics agency said. The result was worse than the 0.6 per cent decline forecast by economists in a Reuters poll.

The main TAIEX index was down 1.2 per cent at 8,376.70 as of 0147 GMT, after falling as much as 1.3 per cent earlier in the session.

The electronics subindex sank 1.1 per cent, while the financials subindex lost 0.1 per cent.

Shares of Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC), the world's top contract chipmaker, slipped nearly 2 per cent.

The Taiwan dollar firmed TW$0.079 to TW$32.200 per US dollar.

REUTERS