Taiwan stocks post biggest pct drop since Feb

Taiwan stocks slid 3.17 per cent on Monday,their biggest one-day percentage fall in more than two months.

Taiwan stocks slid 3.17 per cent on Monday,their biggest one-day percentage fall in more than two months,amid caution over quarterly earnings,while news of charges against Goldman Sachs hurt sentiment.

Major technology exporters including LCD maker AU Optronics Corp and other financial shares led the decline,and analysts said more downside is likely this week if the Goldman woes continued.

It is like a snowball and we really don’t know what will happen next and how big the impact will be,said Andrew Deng,analyst at Taiwan International Securities. He did not rule out the TAIEX testing the 60-day moving average near 7,800 soon.

Taiwan’s main TAIEX share index closed down 257.35 points at 7,854.22,the largest daily per centage fall since Feb. 5 and the lowest close in nearly one month.

US stocks fell on Friday as Goldman shares plunged after the Securities and Exchange Commission charged the Wall Street firm with fraud over its handling of a debt product tied to subprime mortgages.

Most Asian financial markets fell on Monday,with Shanghai’s market down over 3 per cent and Tokyo,Seoul and Hong Kong all shedding around 1.5 per cent.

AU Optronics fell 3.22 per cent before the company reports its first-quarter earnings on Thursday. Top contract chip maker TSMC,whose first-quarterly earnings due out next week,fell 0.63 per cent.

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The broader electronics sub-index lost 2.7 per cent and the financial sector slid 4.1 per cent.

Among gainers,PC memory chip maker ProMOS shot up as much as 6.3 per cent before closing up 2.1 per cent after it sold a chip plant to rival Macronix. Macronix shares fell 5.5 per cent.

The move is positive to ProMOS because that can really help improve its financial structure,and it can use the money to help upgrade its technology,said Tom Tang,a vice president at Masterlink Investment Advisory.

Waterland Financial Holding dropped 2.9 per cent. The company is set to announce later on Monday its plan to buy the Taiwan business of US insurer Metlife. Sources said last week that the deal would be worth $114 million.