Taipei, Sept. 16 (CNA) Shares in Taiwan moved lower by over 100 points to close below the 14,600-point mark Friday as investors took cues from losses suffered by the United States markets overnight amid rising fears over an aggressive rate hike cycle by the Federal Reserve, dealers said.

The bellwether electronics sector again drove the local main board lower, led by large semiconductor stocks which were hit by fears that rising interest rates will make them less attractive, dealers added.

The Taiex, the weighted stock in the local market, ended down by 108.28 points, or 0.74 percent, at 14,561.76 after moving between 14,521.65 and 14,602.16. Turnover totaled NT$231.23 billion (US$7.39 billion).

The market opened down by 0.46 percent and selling escalated, especially with semiconductor heavyweights, dealers said.

Overnight sell-off on Wall Street

They added selling continued to the end of the session after a 0.56-percent fall on the Dow Jones Industrial Average and a 1.43-percent decline on the tech-heavy Nasdaq index on Thursday.

"With the Fed policymaking meeting approaching next week, caution about a quicker pace in rate hikes undertaken by the Fed continued to dominate market sentiment," MasterLink Securities analyst Tom Tang said.

In particular, a stronger-than-expected retail sales figure led many investors to expect that the Fed will act more aggressively during the policymaking meeting on Sept. 21 (U.S. time), Tang said, referring to an unexpected 0.3-percent increase in U.S. August retail sales from July, compared with an earlier estimate that the sales would stay little changed.

Tang said the retail sales figure simply raised concerns that the Fed's rate hikes would run deeper after the higher-than-expected U.S. inflation figure for August released on Tuesday.

"It was not surprising at all that tech stocks fell victim to such rate hike fears," Tang said. "In Taipei, contract chipmaker Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. (TSMC) continued to lead the losses."

TSMC, the most heavily weighted stock in the local market, fell by 0.94 percent to close at NT$472.00 after hitting a low of NT$469.00. Led by TSMC, the electronics sector decreased by 0.97 percent with the semiconductor sub-index falling by 1.06 percent.

Among other semiconductor stocks, United Microelectronics Corp. (UMC), another contract chipmaker, dropped by 1.11 percent to end at the day's low of NT$39.95, and dynamic random access memory (DRAM) chip supplier Nanya Technology Corp. fell by 2.58 percent to end at NT$49.10.

Smartphone IC designer MediaTek Inc. dropped by 2.60 percent to close at NT$600.00, while IC packaging and testing services provider ASE Technology Holding Co. edged up by 0.48 percent to end at NT$83.60.

While the newest iPhone 14 series went on sale around the world Friday, Largan Precision Co., a supplier of smartphone camera lenses to Apple Inc., still fell by 2.07 percent to close at NT$1,895.00.

iPhone assembler Hon Hai Precision Industry Co. appeared resilient, falling by only 0.46 percent to end at NT$107.50.

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In addition, power management solution provider Delta Electronics Inc. dropped by 2.22 percent to close at NT$264.50, and Yageo Corp, the world's third-largest multilayer ceramic capacitor (MLCC) supplier, also fell by 1.78 percent to end at NT$332.00.

"In addition to the rate hike worries, the electronics sector is also faced with weakening global demand for consumer electronics devices, which has led many investors to keep their hands off these stocks," Tang said.

The U.S. losses also hit many old-economy stocks throughout the session on Friday, with Formosa Plastics Corp. falling by 1.82 percent to close at NT$86.50, and Formosa Chemicals & Fibre Corp. down by 1.31 percent to end at NT$67.80.

Meanwhile, food brand Un-President Enterprises Corp. fell by 1.79 percent to close at NT$65.70, and rival AGV Products Corp. dropped by 2.04 percent to end at NT$9.60.

The paper sector, however, rode the wave of growing paper pulp prices on the global market to rise by 0.99 percent, Tang said. In this sector, YFY Inc. rose by 2.46 percent to close at NT$24.95, and Longchen Paper & Packaging Co. increased by 2.64 percent to end at NT$15.55.

Shipping stocks in the transportation sector, which edged up by 0.64 percent, continued to steam ahead due to a recovery in bulk cargo freight rates. Chinese Maritime Transport Ltd. rose by 2.88 percent to close at NT$39.25, and U-Ming Marine Transport Corp. increased by 1.23 percent to end at NT$41.05.

In the financial sector, SinoPact Financial Holding Co. increased by 1.37 percent as the stock has been included in the FTSE TWSE Taiwan 50 Index, which is comprised of the top 50 firms in terms of market capitalization in Taiwan.

On the other hand, contract chipmaker Powerchip Semiconductor Manufacturing Corp., which has been removed from the index, ended down by 1.83 percent at NT$32.15.

"Before the Fed's meeting, the Taiex is expected to continue to move in consolidation with many investors staying on the sidelines," Tang said. "I expect the nearest technical support will be seen at around 14,500 points."

According to the TWSE, foreign institutional investors sold a net NT$17.41 billion worth of shares on the main board Friday.

Sept. 16: U.S. dollar closes well above NT$31 on Fed expectations

Sept. 10: Foreign institutional investors record net fund outflows for August

Sept. 9: Central bank governor expects Taiwan's CPI growth to fall below 2% in 2023

Sept. 6: Forex reserves continue to fall after central bank's intervention in market

Aug. 31: Average daily turnover on TWSE plunging, but fundamentals sound: FSC

Aug. 20: Taiwan dollar could remain weak; sound economy expected to cap fall

Aug. 19: U.S. dollar hits two-year high against Taiwan dollar