The TAIEX yesterday plunged more than 300 points to end below 12,300 points and the three-month moving average of 12,577, as market sentiment was hurt by a steep drop on Wall Street overnight.
The index closed down 319.50 points, or 2.54 percent, at the day’s low of 12,264.38. Turnover totaled NT$243.499 billion (US$8.31 billion), Taiwan Stock Exchange data showed.
Elsewhere in Asia, shares were also mostly lower, as caution set in after a retreat on Wall Street driven by a decline in technology shares.
Photo: CNA
The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 525 points, or 1.92 percent, and the tech-heavy NASDAQ dropped 3.02 percent.
Japan’s benchmark Nikkei 225 declined 1.1 percent to 23,081.70, while Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 fell 0.8 percent to 5,875.90.
South Korea’s KOSPI plunged 2.3 percent to 2,280.28, while Hong Kong’s Hang Seng dropped 1.9 percent to 23,297.47, and the Shanghai Composite fell 1.5 percent to 3,231.51.
With the daily trading volume on Taiwan’s main board and the over-the-counter market holding at about NT$250 billion, there is still room for the TAIEX to regain some momentum, Minister of Finance Su Jain-rong (蘇建榮) said.
The National Stabilization Fund committee is to meet on Oct. 12 to determine whether to continue to buy stocks to help prop up the market, Su said.
Among the affected tech heavyweights, contract chipmaker Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (台積電) dropped 2.42 percent to close at NT$423. It was the seventh consecutive session of decline for the stock since Wednesday last week, when it hit a high of NT$462.
Meanwhile, integrated circuit designer MediaTek Inc (聯發科) shed 2.76 percent to close at NT$600, and Largan Precision Co (大立光), a supplier of smartphone camera lenses to Apple Inc, fell 1.3 percent to end at NT$3,425.
Financial sector performance was also weak, with Yuanta Financial Holdings Co (元大金控) losing 3.11 percent to close at NT$17.15 and China Development Financial Holding Corp (中華開發金控) finishing 2.96 percent lower at NT$8.21.
Amid projections of a continued global spread of COVID-19, some biotech shares bucked the downturn.
Abnova (Taiwan) Corp (亞諾法生技) gained 9.91 percent to close at NT$83.2, while Chunghwa Chemical Synthesis & Biotech Co (中化生) surged 9.93 percent to finish at NT$75.3.
Foreign institutional investors sold a net NT$43.68 billion of shares yesterday, after a net sell of NT$27.6 billion in the previous three sessions, according to Taiwan Stock Exchange data.
Additional reporting by AP
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