Asia's Apple suppliers hit as group slips Taiwanese stocks endured some sharp losses on Tuesday as its heavyweight technology sector was hit by demand fears, while suppliers of US group Apple lost ground. Smartphone maker HTC was the worst performer after naming Chang Chia-lin, former Goldman Sachs partner, as its new chief financial officer and spokesman. The move comes less than two weeks after the company reported its biggest annual profit decline since it listed 10 years ago. The shares dropped 6.2 per cent to T$485. Hon Hai Precision Industry, which assembles Apple products, fell 3.9 per cent to T$110 after the US group fell for a fifth straight session, taking its cumulative losses to more than 8 per cent. Lens maker for Apple products Largan Precision Co fell 3.7 per cent to T$549. The Taiex index fell 1.9 per cent to 7,585.87. Overall the FTSE Asia Pacific index shed 0.4 per cent to 239.02. Technology stocks in Tokyo were among the weakest on the Nikkei 225 Average, but the benchmark stock indicator fell just 0.1 per cent to 9,464.71. Consumer electronics group Sony fell a further 2.3 per cent to Y1,397 following last week's announcement that it was to make deep cuts at its lossmaking television unit and focus more on smartphones. The stock has now lost 8.6 per cent since Thursday's announcement disappointed investors and has fallen nearly 24 per cent since its cyclical peak in mid-March. Sharp, which has also struggled to make its television business profitable in the wake of competition from rivals such as Samsung and LG, shed 2.3 per cent to Y508. In Hong Kong, the Hang Seng index shed 0.2 per cent to 20,562.31, while the mainland Shanghai Composite lost 0.9 per cent to 2,335. In Sydney, the S&P/ASX 200 fell 0.3 per cent to 4,288.8 and Seoul's Kospi Composite eased 0.4 per cent to 1,985.3.