Beside Chartered's blow to sentiment, there were a lot of negative factors weighing on Taiwan, where 50 per cent of Asian technology market capitalisation is listed. The Taiwan Weighted Index yesterday ended only 0.66 per cent firmer after an opening gain of 1.14 per cent. The highly speculative retail players who dominate trade sold leading technology names before they went ex-dividend in the next few days, ING Barings analyst Chris Hsieh said. Some financial institutions such as Chiao Tung Bank were under pressure and were selling down portfolios, which included technology blue chips, he said. There were also lingering fears the Taiwan dollar could be devalued, which caused a 2.99 per cent decline in stocks on Monday.
Demand is very poor.
Despite that, there was value to be found across technology firms in Taiwan for those prepared to sit out what could prove to a volatile ride out of the slump. Mr Hsieh's top pick was specialised memory chip maker Macronix, with earnings expected to drop 20 per cent compared to 40 to 50 per cent for other Taiwan technology firms. It's fair to say that most of the negative news is in the price.