TAIPEI: Taiwan stocks traded lower on Friday, weighed down by defensive plays such as glass and ceramics and cement counters, as investors took profit on the rally in the previous session.
Fund managers said the decline should pause next week ahead of an EU summit on Friday as investors awaits details from euro zone leaders on the debt crisis, but could resume after the summit if it fails to deliver promising messages.
The Taiwan market is likely to bottom in the first half of 2012 before climbing towards the end of the year, a Reuters poll found, tracking the development of the euro zone debt crisis, with defaults set to peak in the first quarter.
At 0245 GMT, the main TAIEX index was off 0.63 percent, or 45.56 points to 7,133.33, after opening down 0.2 percent.
"It's profit-taking because stocks rose too high yesterday," said Bevan Yeh, a senior fund manager of Prudential Financial Securities Investment Trust.
Hon Hai Precision Industry Co Ltd slipped 0.5 percent, even though newspapers reported that the company had said it would increase headcount next year and see revenue growth of not less than 15 percent.
The electronics sub-index lost 0.8 percent, however HTC Corp edged up 0.5 percent.
The financial sub-index dropped 0.75 percent.
The Taiwan dollar was flat at T$30.144.
Foreign investors were net buyers on Thursday, picking up T$16.48 billion.
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