Markets

Taiwan stocks fall on euro zone worries, banks down

Published Updated

Investor sentiment turned cautious after the market staged a 3 percent rally this week, boding ill for further upside.

"There is still uncertainty over the euro zone crisis in the rest of Q4," said Prudential Financial fund manager Bevan Yeh in Taiwan. "As long as there is uncertainty, you might want to be conservative about holding stocks."

Yeh saw little upside for the main index in near term, with downside as low as below 7,000 points.

At about an hour into trade, the TAIEX index had slipped 62.25 points to 7,366.08, retreating from a nearly four-week closing high in the prior session.

The financials sub-index shed 1.5 percent, with Fubon Financial Holding Co Ltd 1.8 percent lower. The electronics sub-index slipped 0.17 percent.

One bright spot was Taiwan's top chip designer Mediatek Inc , up 1.8 percent. Motorola would start using several MT6573 chips designed by Mediatek, local media reported, citing a research report published by Daiwa Securities.

The Taiwan dollar weakened slightly to T$30.336.

Copyright Reuters, 2011