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14:11 20Mar09 RTRS-Taiwan stocks fall as credit card woes hurt banks * Financial shares drag on Taiwan stocks * Strong Taiwan dollar weighs on export-reliant techs * Analysts warn correction may take place soon (Adds details, quotes) TAIPEI, March 20 (Reuters) - Taiwan stocks closed 1.48 percent lower on Friday, dragged down by financial shares such as Cathay Financial <2882.tw> on concerns they could be hurt if parliament sharply lowered maximum interest rates on credit cards. The main TAIEX share index <.TWII> closed 74.31 points lower at 4,961.62, further retreating from the five-month intraday high hit on Thursday. Turnover stood at T$101.4 billion ($2.9 billion), lower than T$116.8 billion in the previous session. Cathay Financial closed 2.76 percent lower, while the broader financial sub-index <.TFNI> declined 2.99 percent. "Some of the financial companies are already not doing very well, so to have parliament want to cut their interest rate charges on credit cards would be another blow," said Kevin Chung, a Jih Sun Securities fund manager. "The recent rally by financial shares has only added to concerns that they could be overvalued, so that's all causing things to slip today." Other major financial holding companies such as Fubon Financial <2881.tw> and Shin Kong Financial <2888.tw> also lost ground, declining 0.76 percent and 4.72 percent, respectively. The heavily export-reliant tech sector slipped under the weight of a rising Taiwan dollar, as investors fretted that a stronger local currency would decrease the attractiveness of the island's exports and drive down sales. The Taiwan dollar firmed sharply on Friday to hit a one-month intraday high due to inflation fears stemming from the U.S. Federal Reserve's decision to pump in $1 trillion into the U.S. economy, leading to outflows from the greenback. AU Optronics <2409.tw>, Taiwan's largest LCD maker, fell 3.51 percent even after it gave a bullish outlook for the year. [ID:nTP254971] Other tech shares also fell, with PC brands Acer <2353.tw> and Asustek <2357.tw> falling about 3 percent, while top contract chipmaker TSMC <2330.tw> declined about 3 percent. "If you look at how much tech shares have climbed recently, they're far outperforming their overseas peers," said Chung. "Is there any reason for this? Probably not, and it's about time for a correction." Other analysts also warned that the market could fall further in the coming week as the benchmark share index had already risen more than 10 percent since the beginning of the month. "We've already cut our equity holdings following the recent rally," said King's Town Bank investment division's deputy section chief Kevin Huang. "Taiwan shares have come up so much recently, it's about time they returned to fundamentals." --------------------TAIEX IN PERSPECTIVE-------------------- Move on day -1.48 percent Close on day 4,961.62 2009 intraday high 5,125.40 2009 intraday low 4,164.19 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 Jonathan Hopfner) ((kelvin.soh@thomsonreuters.com; +886 2 2508 0815; Reuters Messaging: kelvin.soh.reuters.com@reuters.com)) 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] DIARIES & DATA: IPO diary & data Asia earnings diary [ASIA/EQTY] U.S. earnings diary [RESF/US] European diary [WEU/EQTY] Taiwan diary [TW/DIARY] Wall Street Week Ahead [.N/O] Eurostocks Week Ahead [.EU/O] World forecasts TOP NEWS: For top Asian company news, double click on: [nTOPEQA] U.S. company news [TOP/EQU] European company news [TOP/EQE] Forex news [TOP/FRX] Global Economy news [TOP/MACRO] Technology news [TOP/TECH] Telecoms news [TOP/TELCO] Media news [TOP/MEDIA] Banking news [TOP/FIN] Politics/General news [TOP/G] Asia Macro data A multimedia version of Reuters Top News is available at:
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