The TAIEX yesterday tumbled 2.68 percent, or 547.81 points, to 19,901.96, as escalating military conflict in the Middle East unnerved investors and triggered panic sell-offs across the board, analysts said.
It was the first time the TAIEX dipped below 20,000 points since March 20.
The slump came on the heels of successive retreats on Wall Street, as global bourses assimilated Iran’s attack on Israel, which could usher in a new phase of tension, uncertainty and confrontation.
Photo: CNA
“The decline is the steepest since October 2022 and pushed the main board below the 20,000-point mark,” Taishin Investment Trust Co (台新投信) said.
Geopolitical tensions aside, fund outflows by foreign portfolio managers and domestic proprietary traders also played a part in the drab showing, Taiwan Stock Exchange data showed.
Turnover was NT$534.908 billion (US$16.46 billion) after foreign players cut their holdings by NT$38.8 billion, while proprietary traders lowered their positions by NT$20.08 billion, the local bourse said.
Mutual funds raised their stakes by NT$1.6 billion.
The Securities and Futures Bureau said that Taiwan’s economic fundamentals remain healthy and it is better to approach investment from a long-term perspective.
The Financial Supervisory Commission would take any necessary measures to respond to changes in international politics that affect the global economy, officials said.
More than 80 percent of shares fell, with heavyweight technology shares hit the hardest.
Shares of MediaTek Inc (聯發科), the world’s biggest 5G smartphone chip designer, plunged 4.95 percent to NT$1,055, while those of iPhone assembler Hon Hai Precision Industry Co (鴻海精密) fell 3.42 percent to NT$141 in the wake of poor iPhone sales.
Shares of Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) fared better than the TAIEX given their 2.23 percent fall to NT$788, the local bourse said.
TSMC is due to unveil its first-quarter earnings tomorrow, and shed light on its business outlook and industry trends.
While mindful of geopolitical twists, investors would pay close attention to TSMC’s financial results and business guidance, Nomura Asset Management Taiwan Ltd (野村投信) said.
TSMC is responsible for supplying advanced chips used in the latest smartphones and artificial intelligence tools.
Popular exchange-traded funds (ETFs) also ranked high on the selling lists of foreign portfolio managers and proprietary traders.
They slashed positions in ETFs featuring high cash dividends with the stock codes 00940, 00929, 00919, 0056 and 00878 in favor of the US dollar.
The New Taiwan dollar yesterday shed another NT$0.112 versus the greenback to close at NT$32.490 in Taipei trading, the central bank’s Web site showed.
The NT dollar has weakened 1.6 percent so far this month, as hotter than expected US inflation data could prompt the US Federal Reserve to postpone interest rate cuts.
Napoleon Osorio is proud of being the first taxi driver to have accepted payment in bitcoin in the first country in the world to make the cryptocurrency legal tender: El Salvador. He credits Salvadoran President Nayib Bukele’s decision to bank on bitcoin three years ago with changing his life. “Before I was unemployed... And now I have my own business,” said the 39-year-old businessman, who uses an app to charge for rides in bitcoin and now runs his own car rental company. Three years ago the leader of the Central American nation took a huge gamble when he put bitcoin
TECH RACE: The Chinese firm showed off its new Mate XT hours after the latest iPhone launch, but its price tag and limited supply could be drawbacks China’s Huawei Technologies Co (華為) yesterday unveiled the world’s first tri-foldable phone, as it seeks to expand its lead in the world’s biggest smartphone market and steal the spotlight from Apple Inc hours after it debuted a new iPhone. The Chinese tech giant showed off its new Mate XT, which users can fold three ways like an accordion screen door, during a launch ceremony in Shenzhen. The Mate XT comes in red and black and has a 10.2-inch display screen. At 3.6mm thick, it is the world’s slimmest foldable smartphone, Huawei said. The company’s Web site showed that it has garnered more than
PARTNERSHIPS: TSMC said it has been working with multiple memorychip makers for more than two years to provide a full spectrum of solutions to address AI demand Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) yesterday said it has been collaborating with multiple memorychip makers in high-bandwidth memory (HBM) used in artificial intelligence (AI) applications for more than two years, refuting South Korean media report's about an unprecedented partnership with Samsung Electronics Co. As Samsung is competing with TSMC for a bigger foundry business, any cooperation between the two technology heavyweights would catch the eyes of investors and experts in the semiconductor industry. “We have been working with memory partners, including Micron, Samsung Memory and SK Hynix, on HBM solutions for more than two years, aiming to advance 3D integrated circuit
Vanguard International Semiconductor Corp (世界先進) and Episil Technologies Inc (漢磊) yesterday announced plans to jointly build an 8-inch fab to produce silicon carbide (SiC) chips through an equity acquisition deal. SiC chips offer higher efficiency and lower energy loss than pure silicon chips, and they are able to operate at higher temperatures. They have become crucial to the development of electric vehicles, artificial intelligence data centers, green energy storage and industrial devices. Vanguard, a contract chipmaker focused on making power management chips and driver ICs for displays, is to acquire a 13 percent stake in Episil for NT$2.48 billion (US$77.1 million).
RSS