Taipei - Taiwan's stocks ended 2.17 per cent lower Tuesday, despite a government-initiated bailout move to save a financially troubled dynamic random access memory (DRAM) maker, dealers said.

The TAIEX stock index opened lower and extended its downward trend to close at 4,491.78, down 99.48 points or 2.17 per cent from Monday's trade.

Market dealers said investors were not optimistic about the prospect of DRAM companies even after a banking consortium agreed to lend 3 billion Taiwan dollars (87 million US dollars) to help improve the financial condition of struggling DRAM maker ProMOS.

They said strong selling was seen in the DRAM sector, which dragged down the semiconductor sub-index, the bellwether of Taiwan's stock index.

All eight major sectors plunged, with the electronics sub-index losing 2.9 per cent. (dpa)