Taipei: Shares in Taiwan ended slightly lower Monday, as large-cap tech stocks rebounded from early losses, while rotational buying in the financial sector helped limit losses, dealers said. The Taiex, the Taiwan Stock Exchange's benchmark index, ended down 20.65 points, or 0.05 percent, at 43,634.19 after moving between 42,969.48 and 43,868.15. Turnover totaled NT$717.69 billion (US$22.18 billion).

According to Focus Taiwan, Concord Securities analyst Kerry Huang indicated that the index's initial losses were driven by concerns over the potential failure of massive AI investments to generate adequate revenue for major cloud service providers. Huang mentioned that investor caution persisted following Alphabet's report of negative free cash flows, with other sector companies like Microsoft, Meta, and Amazon set to release results later this week.

Despite these concerns, large-cap semiconductor stocks, notably memory chip suppliers, rebounded, aiding the electronics sector and broader market. Nanya Technology Corp. saw an 8.73 percent rise to close at NT$436.00, while Winbond Electronics Corp. gained 3.56 percent to end at NT$160.00. Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. (TSMC) closed unchanged at NT$2,350.00, despite earlier fluctuations. MediaTek Inc., however, ended down 1.87 percent at NT$3,680.00.

In addition, Hon Hai Precision Industry Co. saw a slight gain of 0.20 percent, closing at NT$253.00, while Delta Electronics Inc. ended down 1.68 percent at NT$1,755.00 after recovering from earlier losses.

Huang suggested that government-led funds might have influenced the buying trend, as evidenced by gains in financial stocks. The financial index rose by 1.45 percent, with Fubon Financial Holding Co., Cathay Financial Holding Co., and E. Sun Financial Holding Co. all posting gains. CTBC Financial Holding Co., however, saw a decline of 0.94 percent.

In the old-economy sector, Formosa Plastics Corp. and Nan Ya Plastics Corp. both experienced losses, while China Airlines and EVA Airways bucked the trend with gains. Despite these movements, the Taiex closed below the 60-day moving average, indicating potential volatility ahead.

The Taiwan Stock Exchange reported that foreign institutional investors purchased a net NT$8.04 billion worth of shares on the main board Monday.