Taiwan share prices plunged 6.3 percent after the stock market opened Thursday amid concerns that the terrorist attacks in the United States would prolong an already protracted economic slowdown.
The Weighted Price Index of the Taiwan Stock Exchange shed 261.22 points to 3,915.71 points, plummeting close to the 7 percent limit share prices were allowed to rise or fall in a single day. On Tuesday, the index shed 2.6 percent.
Taiwan's Finance Minister Yen Ching-chang (顏慶章) ordered the stocks and futures markets closed Wednesday since the markets were ``extremely sensitive'' and tended to overreact to such market-moving news as terrorist attacks.
Yen had said that a massive sell-off was ``unlikely,'' adding that the government would not use the national stock stabilization fund to buffer the falling index. The fund was established last year to curb panic selling on non-economic factors.
Turnover was valued at NT$4.7 billion.
Losers outnumbered gainers 514 to 10, with 10 issues unchanged.
Share prices fell across the board, with transportation issues down the most. The electronics index, which accounts for more than half of total market capitalization, shed 6.2 percent.
High-tech heavyweights plunged the near daily limit early Thursday, with Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co., the world's largest chip subcontractor, falling 6.35 percent to NT$59 per share.
United Microelectronics Corp., Taiwan's second largest, shed 6.75 percent to NT$35.90. Together, both stocks account for about 20 percent of the big board's value.
Acer Inc., Taiwan's largest PC maker, fell 6.77 percent to NT$11.70 per share.
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