0415 tw stock

14:13 15Apr09 RTRS-Taiwan stocks off 7-mth high as financials decline * Market ends 4-session winning streak * Financial shares track losses of U.S. peers * China Steel up on tie-up talks with China rivals (Adds details and quotes) TAIPEI, April 15 (Reuters) - Taiwan stocks fell 0.3 percent on Wednesday after hitting a near 7-month closing high previously, as investors sold financials such as Cathay Financial <2882.tw> that had risen on a potential agreement with China. The main TAIEX share index <.TWII> ended 17.49 points lower at 5,875.19, snapping a four-session winning streak that saw the market jump more than 8 percent. Turnover was active at T$148.7 billion ($4.4 billion), little changed from T$149 billion a day earlier. Financial shares were hit after their U.S. peers slid on Tuesday on fears that more banks would follow Goldman Sachs' share offer to raise cash. The financial sub-index <.TFNI> fell 0.37 percent, pulling back from a recent rally of 34 percent since the beginning of March. The sector has gained on expectations a potential signing of a memorandum of understanding (MOU) on financial supervision with China would pave the way for Taiwan banks to enter the mainland. Shares of Cathay Financial <2882.tw>, Taiwan's top-listed financial holding firm, were 0.28 percent lower. "Financial shares have risen a lot previously and are now taking a breather. Some foreign institutions might also be selling these shares as their reports suggested," said Eddy Chen, a vice president of National Investment Trust Co. On Tuesday, CLSA recommended in a research note that its clients sell financial shares ahead of the possible signing of the MOU due to the gloomy outlook for banks' asset quality. "The market will be trading in a tight range in the short term after recent gains and as investors remain cautious ahead of companies' first quarter results due out later this month," Chen said. Tech shares gave up early gains on worries a sector recovery will not come any time soon. Intel Corp posted better-than-expected quarterly results but declined to provide an outlook for the second quarter due to economic uncertainty. The electronics sub-index <.TELI> fell 0.44 percent, with TSMC <2330.tw> , the world's top contract chip maker, ending the session 0.95 percent lower. However, DRAM shares rose on continued hopes that production cuts could gradually help struggling chipmakers. Powerchip <5346.two>, the island's biggest DRAM maker, smaller rival ProMOS <5387.two> both rose more than 4 percent. But Nanya Tech <2408.tw> was down 2.9 percent. Taiwan Memory Co (TMC), the government-led chip company that could seek up to T$30 billion in state funds, may need less than that and will apply for the funds by the end of April, a government official said on Tuesday. [ID:nTP99146] HOT STOCKS -- China Steel <2002.tw>, Taiwan's No.1 steel maker, rose 2.5 percent after news it was in talk with three of its top China peers to jointly invest in overseas miners to take advantage of low prices and secure future supplies. [nTP166820] The steel and iron sub-index <.TSTI> ended up 1.83 percent. -- Amtran Technology <2489.tw>, maker of Vizio brand flat-screen TVs, rose 1.74 percent after saying it aimed to ship 5 million TVs globally this year, 25 percent higher than its previous estimate. [ID:nTP116414] --------------------TAIEX IN PERSPECTIVE-------------------- Move on day -0.30 percent Close on day 5,875.19 2009 intraday high 5,904.28 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] (US$1=T$33.8) (Reporting by Gina Chang, Editing by Jacqueline Wong) ((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: http://topnews.session.rservices.com LIVE PRICES & DATA: World Stocks <0#.index> Currency rates Dow Jones/NASDAQ <.DJI> <.IXIC> Nikkei <.N225> FTSE 100 <.FTSE> Debt <0#usbmk=> Taiwan dollar LME price overview TAIWAN MARKET: Taiwan equity mkt TAIEX <.TWII><.TV.TW> Other indices <0#.inx.tw> TAISDAQ <.TWOII><.TV.TWO> TAIMEX Taiwan index futures <0#tx:> MSCI Taiwan index <.MSTW> SIMEX Taiwan index futures <0#stw:> FTSE TW50
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