Taiwan: Stocks fall, president's speech awaited

[TAIPEI] Taiwan stocks fell on Friday, with trading expected to be volatile as investors waited to hear new President Tsai Ing-wen's speech for indications on how she would deal with China.

Ms Tsai was inaugurated as Taiwan's first woman president, with the export-driven economy on the ropes and wary Communist Party rulers in China watching for any move towards independence by an island it considers its own.

She will deliver her inauguration speech at 0310 GMT.

Ms Tsai's pro-independence Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) won parliamentary and presidential elections by a landslide in January on voter backlash against creeping dependence on China.

About 30 minutes into trade, the main TAIEX index was down 0.2 per cent, after opening 0.2 per cent higher at 8,108.68.

The electronics subindex was off 0.02 per cent while the financials subindex slipped 0.38 per cent.

The Taiwan dollar firmed T$0.004 to T$32.798 per US dollar.

REUTERS