Taiwan stocks ended lower on Wednesday as record high oil prices weighed on investor sentiment, with the technology sector ignoring overnight gains on Wall Street to become one of the day's heaviest decliners.
The TAIEX share index fell 1.85 percent to end at 5,875.67 points, losing some 4.3 percent this week since hitting a four-week closing high last Friday.
Memory chip and display panel shares fell in heavy trade, with top local memory chip maker Powerchip Semiconductor dropping 3.06 percent to T$28.5 and world no. 3 screen maker AU Optronics losing 4.24 percent to T$56.5.
"Oil prices rose to record highs and investors don't seem to agree with the late advance in US shares," said Peggy Hsiung, manager of proprietary trading at Pacific Securities.
"Asia is a manufacturing region while Europe and the United States have a higher proportion of service industries, so they have some more protection from oil prices," she said.
Crude prices in New York ended over US $42 per barrel after an attack by Islamic militants in Saudi Arabia over the weekend, though the tech-focused Nasdaq composite index managed a 0.2 percent rise on strong US economic data.
Taiwan imports virtually all of its crude oil needs and worries over rising prices kept market turnover soft at T$55.5 billion, down from T$66.25 billion in Tuesday's session.
BenQ Corp, Taiwan biggest mobile phone and computer peripheral maker, gave up 2.41 percent to end at T$44.5, despite telling Reuters in an interview that 2004 sales were expected to rise at least 50 percent from last year.
Only a few shares in select raw materials sectors like paper, glass and textiles managed gains.
The over-the-counter market's TAISDAQ index fell 2.46 percent to 128.53, while June TAIEX futures fell 1.96 percent to 5,790, maintaining a large discount over the spot price.
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