Taiwan share prices closed down 1.14 percent Tuesday on profit taking after the market moved closer to the nearest technical resistance level of around 7,400 points, dealers said. The weighted index closed down 84.65 points at 7,289.33, off a low of 7,276.52 and a high of 7,348.56 on turnover of NT$69.54 billion (US$2.17 billion). A total of 1,176 stocks closed lower and 949 higher, while 300 were unchanged. The market opened 0.64 percent lower as investors pocketed the gains posted in the previous trading sessions, and the downtrend continued until the end of the session on lingering concerns over the debt problems in Europe, dealers said. The plastics/chemical sector suffered the heaviest losses, dropping 2.0 percent, followed by the financial sector, which fell 1.9 percent, and the textile sector, which lost 1.7 percent. The construction and food sectors each closed 0.9 percent lower, while the machinery/electronics and paper sectors each lost 0.8 percent and the cement sector 0.7 percent. In the plastics sector, Nan Ya Plastics shares fell 2.46 percent to NT$51.60 and Formosa Plastics dropped 2.17 percent to NT$63.20 on concerns over falling product prices, dealers said. Among financial stocks, Cathay Financial dropped 2.74 percent to NT$46.15 and Fubon Financial decreased 1.50 percent to NT$36.15. The touch panel sector bucked the downside on introduction of new tablet computer models at Computex Taipei, the world's second largest computer exhibition which opened Tuesday, with Young Fast Optoelectronics finishing up 6.68 percent at NT$244.00. 'The market moved in thin trade on a lack of new leads. After the bourse posted gains for four sessions in a row, it was time for profit taking,' MasterLink Securities analyst Tom Tang said. Tang noted that while the market had risen in the previous sessions, trading volume failed to expand. This indicated that not many investors were willing to chase prices, he said. 'Amid uncertainty over the European debt crisis, keeping cash on hand could be a smart strategy at the moment,' he said. Tang said the market was basically in consolidation mode and can be expected to move in a narrow range over the next few sessions. 