TW market 1112

14:13 12Nov2008 RTRS-Taiwan stocks end down 0.5 pct, Cathay Fin falls

* Cathay Fin leads financial shares lower
* Techs mixed as Asustek up, but contract PC makers fall

(Adds details, quotes)
TAIPEI, Nov 12 (Reuters) - Taiwan stocks closed 0.5 percent
lower on Wednesday, hurt by financial shares such as Cathay
Financial <2882.TW> amid a global economic slowdown and after the
arrest of Taiwan's former president Chen Shui-bian.
The main TAIEX share index <.TWII> fell 23.00 points to close
at 4,615.57, after volatile trade with the index swinging in and
out of positive territory.
The broader market has lost about 7 percent in the past week,
in part because of concerns that the global financial crisis
would hurt demand for Taiwan's technology exports.
Cathay Financial shares shed 3.7 percent, pulling the
financial sector <.TFNI> down 1.1 percent.
Taishin Financial <2887.TW> fell 5.1 percent, while Shin Kong
Financial <2888.TW>, which announced a T$4.5 billion loss in
October, lost 0.5 percent.
"This is just a very minor correction for financials,
considering their shares have been doing well for a while now,"
said Kevin Yang, president of Paradigm Asset Management.
Tech shares were mixed, with top contract chip maker TSMC
<2330.TW> rising 0.7 percent while top electronics parts
maker Hon Hai finished unchanged.
PC vendor Asustek Computer <2357.TW>, which is also the
world's top motherboard maker, closed 1.2 percent higher after it
said its U.S. sales were not being hurt by the global economic
slowdown. [ID:nTP59545]
Asustek, which pioneered low-cost notebook PCs known as
netbooks, is expected by some analysts to benefit from the
slowing economy as price-conscious consumers look toward cheaper
purchases.
"We are looking at a support level of about 4,500 and don't
think that will be breached," said Theresa Chueh, an analyst at
Taiwan International Securities.
"The government will probably kick in to buy shares if the
market falls too much to support prices, which is why we don't
see prices falling much below current levels."
Turnover was low at T$46.18 billion ($1.4 billion), but
higher than the average level in October when the government
halved the down limit on individual stocks, but lower than most
other November trading days.
"Volume and turnover are both quite low right now," said
Andrew Teng of Taiwan International Securities.
"There're a lot of people watching from the sidelines because
there isn't a clear market trend right now. There's not much good
or bad news to trigger a clear direction for the market."
Contract PC makers Wistron Corp <3231.TW> and Compal
Electronics <2324.TW> fell 7 percent and 4.7 percent,
respectively, as investors feared that weaker demand for laptop
computers could hit the companies' bottom line.

--------------------TAIEX IN PERSPECTIVE--------------------
Move on day -0.50 percent
Close on day 4,615.57
2008 intraday high 9,309.95
2008 intraday low 4,110.09
All time high 12,682.41 12 FEB 1990
------------------------------------------------------------
For a table of foreign trading in Taiwan stocks, double-click
on [ID:nTP170358]
(Reporting by Kelvin Soh, Editing by Ken Wills)
((kelvin.soh@thomsonreuters.com; +886 2 2508-0815; Reuters
Messaging:kelvin.soh.reuters.com@reuters.net))
ASIA-PACIFIC STOCK MARKETS:
Pan-Asia......[STXNEWS/AS] Japan........[.T] S.Korea....[.KS]
S.E. Asia............[.SO] Hong Kong...[.HK] Taiwan.....[.TW]
Australia/NZ.........[.AX] India.......[.BO] China......[.SS]
OTHER MARKETS:
Wall Street...........[.N] Gold.........[GOL/] Currency..[FRX/]
Eurostocks...........[.EU] Oil...........[O/R] JP bonds...[JP/]
ADR Report..........[ADR/] LME metals..[MET/L] US bonds...[US/]
Stocks News US...[STXNEWS/US] Stocks News Europe...[STXNEWS/EU]
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