Taipei: Shares in Taiwan closed little changed after a big swing of more than 1,000 points Tuesday as selling emerged to erode initial gains with investors shrugging off a rally in the United States overnight, dealers said. The Taiex, the Taiwan Stock Exchange's benchmark index, ended down 25.75 points, or 0.06 percent, at 43,360.66 after moving between 42,895.81 and 43,912.77. Turnover totaled NT$1.036 trillion (US$34.5 billion).

According to Focus Taiwan, despite a 2.13 percent increase on the tech-heavy Nasdaq index overnight, the Taiex still failed to sustain its earlier upturn as large-cap semiconductor stocks, in particular TSMC (Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co.), traded in negative territory. Concord Securities analyst Kerry Huang noted that TSMC remained in consolidation, leading the main board to follow suit. Huang suggested that the Taiex faced stiff technical resistance around the 20-day moving average of 43,785 points.

Contract chipmaker TSMC, which accounts for over 40 percent of total market value, closed down 2.11 percent at NT$2,320.00, leading the semiconductor subindex to fall by 1.37 percent. Other tech companies also saw declines, with MediaTek Inc. losing 1.15 percent to end at NT$3,865.00 and ASE Technology Holding Co. shedding 4.10 percent to close at NT$585.00.

In contrast, memory chip suppliers Nanya Technology Corp. and Winbond Electronics Corp. saw their shares soar 10 percent, the maximum daily increase, due to a global supply shortage, ending at NT$436.00 and NT$157.00, respectively. Huang noted that funds rotated out of TSMC but flowed to non-chip AI-related stocks, indicating active rotational buying.

Among the gainers, Delta Electronics Inc. rose 2.53 percent to close at NT$1,620.00, and Yageo Corp. added 2.54 percent to end at NT$566.00. However, iPhone assembler and AI server maker Hon Hai Precision Industry Co. lost 1.19 percent to close at NT$250.00, while Quanta Computer Inc. rose 1.35 percent to end at NT$300.50.

Buying also rotated to select old-economy stocks, with Formosa Plastics Corp. up 2.79 percent to close at NT$55.30 and Nan Ya Plastics Corp. up 3.33 percent to end at NT$170.50. Tung Ho Steel Corp. added 2.61 percent to close at NT$82.50, while China Steel Corp. ended unchanged at NT$18.85.

In the financial sector, which fell 0.54 percent, Cathay Financial Holding Co. lost 1.29 percent to close at NT$99.20, and Fubon Financial Holding Co. ended down 0.77 percent at NT$128.50. Huang advised that investors should closely monitor the Taiwan dollar's movement against the U.S. dollar, as it could indicate whether foreign institutional investors will keep their funds in Taiwan or shift them overseas, impacting the Taiex's future movement.

According to the Taiwan Stock Exchange, foreign institutional investors sold a net NT$5.73 billion of shares on the main board Tuesday.