twn stocks 0330

14:13 30Mar09 RTRS-Taiwan stocks log worst decline in 2-½ months * Market ends 5-session winning streak, off 5-1/2-mth high * Financial issues lead decline as investors book profit * AU, Chi Mei down despite potential tie-ups (Adds details and quotes) TAIPEI, March 30 (Reuters) - Taiwan stocks closed 3.43 percent lower on Monday, posting its worst single-day drop in 2-½ months, as investors locked in strong gains in financial shares made over the past week. The main TAIEX share index <.TWII> ended 184.65 points lower at 5,206.05, marking its biggest one-day decline since Jan. 15 and ending a five-session winning streak that pushed the market to a 5-1/2-month high on Friday. Turnover was moderate at T$107.4 billion ($3.2 billion), lower than Friday's T$143.1 billion. The financial sub-index <.TFNI> was the top drag, ending 6.25 percent lower and wiping out half of the 12.5 percent gain it made last week. Cathay Financial <2882.tw>, Taiwan's top listed financial holding firm, fell by its 7 percent daily limit. "The market was taking a breather from recent strong gains," said Eddy Chen, a vice president of National Investment Co. "Monthly sales released later this week will provide little boost as the market had mostly priced in signs of an improving economy," said Chen, who expected the market to trade between 5,100-5,500 points this week. Local companies are due to announce their March sales by April 10. But some analysts said the market could soon resume its upward trend as the world stock markets are stabilising and due to recent upbeat economic data from the United States. Taiwan's top credit card issuer Chinatrust Financial <2891.tw> was limit-down after the firm and its subsidiaries said they would place the 1.23 billion Mega Financial <2886.tw> shares it owns under the trust of the state-owned Bank of Taiwan. [ID:nTP66433] Shares of Mega slid 5.6 percent. For now, investors were busy booking profits following a 9 percent rise on the market over the previous five sessions. AU Optronics <2409.tw>, Taiwan's top LCD maker, fell 4 percent and smaller rival Chi Mei <3009.tw> finished limit-down despite a newspaper saying both firms are seeking tie-ups on technology with Chinese appliance makers. [nTP373538] The electronics sub-index <.TELI> was 2.93 percent lower. However, DRAM shares rallied ahead of a tie-up announcement by Taiwan Memory Co (TMC), a DRAM company set up by the government to revamp the struggling industry. Shares of Powerchip <5346.two>, Taiwan's top DRAM maker, and smaller rival ProMOS <5387.two> both surged by their daily limit. Nanya Tech <2408.tw> jumped 6.66 percent. HOT STOCKS -- VIA Technologies Inc <2388.tw>, Taiwan's largest designer of PC processors, declined by its daily limit. The firm said late on Friday it aimed to grab at least a 15 percent share of the global netbook processor market this year, as it will supply more netbook brands later this year. [ID:nTP82190] -- A.G.V. Products <1217.tw> jumped by its 7 percent daily limit after a newspaper said Chinese food and beverage company Wahaha Group is in talks to buy a stake in the firm and hopes to tap on the firm's R&D capabilities. For a table of foreign trading in Taiwan stocks, double-click on [ID:nTP170358] --------------------TAIEX IN PERSPECTIVE-------------------- Move on day -3.43 percent Close on day 5,206.05 2009 intraday high 5,468.49 2009 intraday low 4,164.19 All time high 12,682.41 12 FEB 1990 ------------------------------------------------------------ (US$1=T$33.9) (Reporting by Gina Chang; Editing by Kazunori Takada) ((gina.chang@thomsonreuters.com; +886 2 2508-0815; Reuters Messaging:gina.chang.thomsonreuters.come@reuters.com)) ((If you have a query or comment on this story, send an email to news.feedback.asia@thomsonreuters.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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