Taipei shares outlook: Lower on Wall St/ahead of central bank meeting

TAIPEI (AFX-ASIA) - Share prices are expected to open lower after sharp overnight losses on Wall Street as profit warnings from Nortel and Palm sparked fresh concerns about the outlook for corporate earnings and the economy as a whole, dealers said.	    They said investors may additionally want to keep to the sidelines ahead of the central bank's quarterly board meeting this afternoon.	    Yesterday, the weighted index closed down 64.94 points at 5,819.39 on turnover of 108.05 bln twd. 	    Foreign institutions were net buyers of shares worth 1.11 bln twd, local investment trusts net buyers of 232.27 mln twd while brokers net sellers of 269.06 mln twd.	    Truswell Securities Investment assistant vice president Michael Hsu said the electronics sector will take its lead from NASDAQ losses overnight as a result of the Nortel and Palm profit warnings.	    "Palm's contract manufacturers in Taiwan will suffer ... while local telemmunications companies will be hit by the Nortel lead."	    He said the U.S. markets seem to be looking for another rate cut before the May 15 FOMC meeting but the local market appears to have already priced in a likely local easing today.	    "The central bank's monetary policy adjustments are unlikely to have much of an impact on the bourse unless they provide a surprise," he said.       

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