Local shares on Friday closed slightly lower as the bellwether electronics sector remained in the doldrums after Intel Corp gave lower-than-expected guidance for the second quarter, dealers said.
Lingering concerns over the COVID-19 pandemic were also a factor after the Financial Times cited WHO documents as saying that experimental drug remdesivir did not improve the conditions of COVID-19 patients in a clinical trial in China, they said.
The TAIEX on Friday ended down 19.15 points, or 0.18 percent, at 10,347.36, after moving between 10,324.20 and 10,386.93, on turnover of NT$125.342 billion (US$4.17 billion).
That was a drop of 2.4 percent from a close of 10,597.04 on April 17.
The market opened up 1.46 points and soon moved to the day’s high on follow-through buying from a 0.57 percent increase on Thursday, but with the weighted index moving closer to 10,400 points, selling emerged and the index remained in a narrow range after that, dealers said.
“The electronics sector was in consolidation, with select major semiconductor stocks suffering losses after Intel’s disappointing guidance for the second quarter,” Hua Nan Securities Investment Management Co (華南永昌證券) analyst Kevin Su (蘇見文) said.
“Without a stronger tech sector, the broader market also remained weak,” Su added.
Intel on Thursday told an investors’ conference that it expected US$1.10 in earnings per share for the second quarter, shy of an earlier market estimate of US$1.19.
Contract chipmaker Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電), the most heavily weighted stock on the local market, fell 0.51 percent to close at NT$294.
Led by TSMC, IC designer MediaTek Inc (聯發科) lost 0.71 percent to end at NT$348.50, while IC packaging and testing firm ASE Technology Holding Co (日月光投控) dropped 0.32 percent to close at NT$63.10.
“Investors were still cautious about the global economy amid the continued COVID-19 spread, which has created volatility in the global financial markets, and Taiwan is no exception,” Su said.
Despite a rebound in crude oil prices overnight, local petrochemical stocks were mixed.
Formosa Plastics Corp (台灣塑膠) ended down 0.5 percent at NT$80.80 and Formosa Chemicals & Fibre Corp (台灣化纖) finished 0.58 percent lower at NT$68.30, but Formosa Petrochemical Corp (台塑石化) rose 0.25 percent to close at NT$81.
In the financial sector, which ended down 0.10 percent, Fubon Financial Holding Co (富邦金控) fell 1.01 percent to close at NT$39.20 and Cathay Financial Holding Co (國泰金控) dropped 0.54 percent to end at NT$37.05, while E.Sun Financial Holding Co (玉山金控) rose 0.78 percent to close at NT$25.70.
“Many tech heavyweights in the US markets still have to give their guidance for the current quarter. Investors should watch these closely,” Su said.
Foreign institutional investors on Friday sold a net NT$5.74 billion of shares on the market, Taiwan Stock Exchange data showed
Elsewhere in Asia on Friday, shares closed lower after an early rally on Wall Street suddenly vanished, the latest example of how fragile the hopes underpinning the stock market’s month-long recovery are.
South Korea’s KOSPI on Friday lost 25.72 points, or 1.3 percent, to close at 1,889.01, a slide of 1.3 percent from 1,914.53 a week earlier.
Japan’s benchmark Nikkei 225 on Friday slipped 167.44 points, or 0.9 percent, to finish at 19,262.00, dropping 3.2 percent from a close of 19,897.26 on April 17.
In Hong Kong, the Hang Seng on Friday fell 145.99 points, or 0.6 percent, to 23,831.33, a 2.3 percent fall from 24,380.00 on April 17.
The Shanghai Composite on Friday lost 29.97 points, or 1.1 percent, to close at 2,808.53, sliding 1.1 percent from a close of 2,838.49 a week earlier.
In India, the SENSEX lost 0.6 percent, while Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 climbed 0.5 percent.
Shares also fell in Southeast Asia.
Investor sentiment was back in fragility mode as attention again shifted to the economic damage the world is likely to suffer because of the pandemic, ING Groep NV economists Prakash Sakpal and Nicholas Mapa said.
“Investors will continue to be monitoring developments on the COVID-19 front with a setback on clinical testing for a treatment to the virus. Meanwhile, the US passed a fresh round of stimulus while oil prices continued to inch up slightly,” they said in a commentary.
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