Sluggish Outlook Hurts Shares
May 06, 2011
The Weighted Stock Index slipped 9.66 to 6190.56 in Saturday's half-session after gaining 39.40 Friday. Volume totaled about 1.14 billion shares worth 39.31 billion New Taiwan dollars, compared with 1.12 billion shares valued at NT$35.60 billion a day earlier. Advancing issues lagged decliners 123 to 183, while 118 issues ended unchanged. The auto subindex rose 0.58%, the largest gain in the mixed market, while the financial group jumped 0.3% and construction shares climbed 0.13%. The weighted index opened at the day's high of 6317.31 in response to Taiwan's central bank's move Friday to cut reserve requirement ratios 0.125-0.500 of a percentage point effective May 06, 2011 index then drifted to a low of 6186.99 shortly before the closing bell. Traders said investors were reluctant to chase after shares following the government's downward revision Friday of the 2011 forecast for gross domestic product growth. The figure was lowered to 5.9% from 6.2%, reaching its lowest point since 1990, traders said. Among actively traded issues, Barb Kerr Construction dropped NT$0.5 to NT$18, Farmers Bank rose NT$1.2 to NT$47 and Hung Fu Construction sank NT$0.9 to NT$40.5.
