Taiwan stocks tumble to new low in 2 years

Taiwan stocks fell sharply Thursday, setting a fresh low in two years, according to local media reports reaching Thursday from Taipei.

The benchmark weighted index opened 50.26 points, or 0.76 percent, lower at 6,534.67 and once bounced 18.17 points, or 0.27 percent, to the day's highest 6,603.1.

Market succumbed to huge selling orders, plunging as much as 200.79 points, or 3.05 percent, to the day's lowest 6,384.14 before trimming losses to 172.3 points, or 2.61 percent, to close at 6,412.63.

Turnover went down slightly to 91.2 billion New Taiwan dollars from Wednesday's 91.7 billion New Taiwan dollars .

All major stock categories fell. Foodstuff issues were the hardest hit sector by diving 5.7 percent. Textile stocks plunged 5. 2 percent. Construction issues tumbled 4.3 percent. Banking and financial shares slumped 4 percent. Cement stocks fell 3.1 percent. Paper and pulp issues lost 2.6 percent. Machinery and electronics shares shed 2.1 percent. Plastics and chemicals shares slid 1.9 percent.

Declining stocks greatly outnumbered advancers 1,681 to 339, with 353 stocks unchanged.

Source:Xinhua