Taiwan stocks ended 3.36 per cent lower Friday on Wall Street's sharp overnight fall and local interest rate hikes, dealers said. The Taiex weighted price index, which recovered some ground after plunging nearly 4 per cent in early trading, finished at 7,548.76, down 263.04 points. Investor pessimism kept turnover slow at 122.481 billion Taiwan dollars (4.45 billion US dollars). All eight of the index's major sectors plunged with the construction sub-index suffering the biggest loss at 6.1 per cent, followed by paper at 5 per cent and financials at 3.8 per cent. Analysts attributed the dive to Thursday's fall on Wall Street as well as Taiwan's central bank's decision to raise the discount rate and lift the reserve ratio on passbook savings and term deposits, an action taken Thursday.
