Shares closed lower yesterday, but recouped part of earlier losses as sentiment remained cautious in the wake of volatility on Wall Street overnight after US President Donald Trump confirmed tariffs on imports from Canada, Mexico and China would go into effect later in the day as planned.
Most Asian markets fell in volatile trade on fears of a trade war after China announced levies of 10 and 15 percent on a range of US agricultural imports in retaliation for Trump’s tariffs and Canada said it would respond in kind, with 25 percent tariffs on US$155 billion of US goods.
The TAIEX closed down 159.37 points, or 0.7 percent, at 22,596.88, with a turnover of NT$400.207 billion (US$12.16 billion), Taiwan Stock Exchange data showed.
Photo: CNA
The index had dropped by almost 400 points at one point before some bargain hunters emerged to pick up select electronics heavyweights to help the broader market recover some of its earlier losses by the end of the session, Cathay Futures Consultant Co (國泰證期) analyst Tsai Ming-han (蔡明翰) said.
“After the recent downturn, bargain hunters appeared active for the moment, setting their sights on large-cap tech stocks which had been hit hard by tariff concerns,” Tsai said.
Elsewhere in Asia, Tokyo’s Nikkei 225 dropped 1.2 percent to 37,331.18, the Hang Seng Index in Hong Kong lost 0.4 percent to 22,922.16, while the Shanghai Composite edged 0.2 percent higher to 3,324.21.
South Korea’s KOSPI gave up 0.2 percent to 2,528.92 and Bangkok’s SET lost 1.1 percent. Shares in Singapore, Sydney, Wellington, Jakarta and Kuala Lumpur were also down.
Concerns over the impact of a full-blown tariff war spread to European markets, with London, Paris and Frankfurt, Germany, all opening lower.
“The specter of a full-blown trade war is once again looming, threatening to choke global economic growth just as investors were starting to regain confidence,” SPI Asset Management managing partner Stephen Innes said.
Investors are hoping that China would announce a huge economic stimulus package at its key parliamentary meeting, the Chinese National People’s Congress, which opens today.
“In the upcoming National People’s Congress, Chinese policymakers could provide more pro-growth measures, including announcing a larger budget deficit target and maintaining a 5 percent growth target for this year,” Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group Inc analyst Lloyd Chan said.
For now, markets no longer think Trump is full of bluster and are moving quickly to anticipate a slowdown in US and global growth, as trade conflict has begun in earnest and the US dollar is falling while bond yields dive.
“It is difficult for markets to get on with aggressive positioning given the risk of US tariff policies turning on a dime,” DBS Bank Ltd currency and credit strategist Chang Wei Liang (張偉亮) said. “In credit markets, spreads certainly look too low given the change in risk environment and a more adverse and uncertain trade backdrop.”
Volatility gauges for Treasuries and for US and Japanese stocks hit their highest levels of the year this week and implied volatility in currencies ticked higher.
WEAKER ACTIVITY: The sharpest deterioration was seen in the electronics and optical components sector, with the production index falling 13.2 points to 44.5 Taiwan’s manufacturing sector last month contracted for a second consecutive month, with the purchasing managers’ index (PMI) slipping to 48, reflecting ongoing caution over trade uncertainties, the Chung-Hua Institution for Economic Research (CIER, 中華經濟研究院) said yesterday. The decline reflects growing caution among companies amid uncertainty surrounding US tariffs, semiconductor duties and automotive import levies, and it is also likely linked to fading front-loading activity, CIER president Lien Hsien-ming (連賢明) said. “Some clients have started shifting orders to Southeast Asian countries where tariff regimes are already clear,” Lien told a news conference. Firms across the supply chain are also lowering stock levels to mitigate
IN THE AIR: While most companies said they were committed to North American operations, some added that production and costs would depend on the outcome of a US trade probe Leading local contract electronics makers Wistron Corp (緯創), Quanta Computer Inc (廣達), Inventec Corp (英業達) and Compal Electronics Inc (仁寶) are to maintain their North American expansion plans, despite Washington’s 20 percent tariff on Taiwanese goods. Wistron said it has long maintained a presence in the US, while distributing production across Taiwan, North America, Southeast Asia and Europe. The company is in talks with customers to align capacity with their site preferences, a company official told the Taipei Times by telephone on Friday. The company is still in talks with clients over who would bear the tariff costs, with the outcome pending further
Six Taiwanese companies, including contract chipmaker Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電), made the 2025 Fortune Global 500 list of the world’s largest firms by revenue. In a report published by New York-based Fortune magazine on Tuesday, Hon Hai Precision Industry Co (鴻海精密), also known as Foxconn Technology Group (富士康科技集團), ranked highest among Taiwanese firms, placing 28th with revenue of US$213.69 billion. Up 60 spots from last year, TSMC rose to No. 126 with US$90.16 billion in revenue, followed by Quanta Computer Inc (廣達) at 348th, Pegatron Corp (和碩) at 461st, CPC Corp, Taiwan (台灣中油) at 494th and Wistron Corp (緯創) at
NEGOTIATIONS: Semiconductors play an outsized role in Taiwan’s industrial and economic development and are a major driver of the Taiwan-US trade imbalance With US President Donald Trump threatening to impose tariffs on semiconductors, Taiwan is expected to face a significant challenge, as information and communications technology (ICT) products account for more than 70 percent of its exports to the US, Chung-Hua Institution for Economic Research (CIER, 中華經濟研究院) president Lien Hsien-ming (連賢明) said on Friday. Compared with other countries, semiconductors play a disproportionately large role in Taiwan’s industrial and economic development, Lien said. As the sixth-largest contributor to the US trade deficit, Taiwan recorded a US$73.9 billion trade surplus with the US last year — up from US$47.8 billion in 2023 — driven by strong
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