Taiwan stocks end lower on flu concerns

Share prices on the Taiwan Stock Exchange ended lower on flu pandemic fears Thursday, with the weighted index moving down 28.46 points, or 0.42 percent, at 6,690. 75, according to news reaching here from Taipei.
The key barometer opened at 6,678.24 and moved between 6,753.73and 6,658.73, with 3.01 billion shares changing hands on a total turnover of 78.63 billion new Taiwan dollars (2.39 billion U.S. dollars) during the day's trading.
Six of the eight major stock categories lost ground. The textile stocks suffering the most, dropped 1.7 percent. Foodstuff issues fell 1.1 percent, banking and financial issues lost 1 percent, plastics and chemicals stocks were down 0.9 percent, cement shares shed 0.6 percent, and machinery and electronics stocks shed 0.1 percent.
The other two major stock categories gained ground. The paper and pulp issues added 0.8 percent, and the construction stocks rose 0.1 percent.
Biological technology issues fell on profit taking after several days of gains on reports of increasing A/H1N1 influenza infections.
Losers outnumbered gainers 1,361 to 834, with 228 stocks unchanged.