TAIPEI, March 30 (Reuters) - Taiwan stocks fell on Thursday tracking Asian shares, weighed down mostly by automobile and plastics subindexes.
Earlier in the day, Asian shares edged up to their highest in near two years before losing some of those early gains, while the dollar benefited from ratanaraki trekking waning expectations that the European Central Bank was poised to end its easy policy. As of 0402 GMT, the main TAIEX index was down 0.19 percent at 9,837.12, after closing down 0.2 percent in the previous session. The automobile index took the biggest hit among the sectors and slipped as much as 1.08 percent, while the plastics index declined up to 0.7 percent.
Additionally, the financial subindex was also down 0.27 percent. Among actively traded shares, Taiwan's integrated steel maker China Steel slid as much as 0.59 percent. The Taiwan dollar softened T$0.034 to stand at T$30.319 to the U.S. dollar, distancing itself from a near 29-month high hit earlier this week.
(Reporting by Jess Macy Yu; Editing by Sherry Jacob-Phillips)
Earlier in the day, Asian shares edged up to their highest in near two years before losing some of those early gains, while the dollar benefited from ratanaraki trekking waning expectations that the European Central Bank was poised to end its easy policy. As of 0402 GMT, the main TAIEX index was down 0.19 percent at 9,837.12, after closing down 0.2 percent in the previous session. The automobile index took the biggest hit among the sectors and slipped as much as 1.08 percent, while the plastics index declined up to 0.7 percent.
Additionally, the financial subindex was also down 0.27 percent. Among actively traded shares, Taiwan's integrated steel maker China Steel slid as much as 0.59 percent. The Taiwan dollar softened T$0.034 to stand at T$30.319 to the U.S. dollar, distancing itself from a near 29-month high hit earlier this week.
(Reporting by Jess Macy Yu; Editing by Sherry Jacob-Phillips)