Taiwan shares continue falling, but tourism shares up

Taiwan share prices continued to fall Monday on heavy selling, with tourism shares an exception thanks to the announcement of a new Taiwan-China tourist program a day earlier, dealers said.The weighted index closed down 124.87 points, or 1.41 percent, at 8,712.95, after moving between 8,703.52 and 8,811.97, on turnover of NT$98.346 billion (US$3.41 billion).

Plastics and chemicals suffered the heaviest losses, finishing down 1.98 percent.Cement shares lost 1.82 percent, food shares dropped 1.58 percent and textiles fell 1.54 percent.The machinery and electronics sector shed 1.51 percent, the financial sector was down 1.33 percent, pulp and paper stocks lost 1.07 percent and construction shares closed 0.45 percent lower.

HTC fell 6.87 percent, near the maximum daily decline of 7 percent, to close at NT$1,085, extending its fall from the previous trading session on Friday.The decline came after Goldman Sachs cut its target price on HTC on Friday from NT$1,600 to NT$1,500 because of concerns over its tablet computer sales.As part of the downgrade, Goldman Sachs also removed HTC from its Asia Pacific "conviction buy list."

In contrast, shares of local tourism service providers ended higher on the local bourse, boosted by China's announcement of a program to allow Chinese tourists to visit Taiwan independently starting June 28.Grand Formosa Regent Hotel -- a bellwether of the local tourism sector -- rose 2.08 percent to close at NT$541.Phoenix Tours International Inc., a major travel agency in Taiwan, also shot up 3.27 percent to close at NT$79.

Source = focustaiwan.tw