A wave of stop-loss selling and panic selling hit Taiwan's stock market at its opening today, with the weighted index plunging 2,086 points — a drop of more than 9.7 percent — marking the largest intraday point and percentage loss on record.
The index bottomed out at 19,212.02, while futures were locked limit-down, with more than 1,000 stocks hitting their daily drop limit.
Photo: Taipei Times
Three heavyweight stocks — Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電), Hon Hai Precision Industry Co (Foxconn, 鴻海精密) and MediaTek (聯發科) — hit their limit-down prices as soon as the market opened, falling to NT$848 (US$25.54), NT$138.5 and NT$1,295 respectively.
TSMC's losses today mean that the microchip manufacturing company's share value has dropped NT$312 (26.9 percent) since its all-time high of NT$1,160 on Jan. 7, representing a total loss of NT$8.1 trillion.
Meanwhile, the artificial intelligence sector suffered significant losses, with key stocks Quanta Computer Inc (廣達電腦) and Wistron Corp (緯創) also hitting their limit-downs at NT$210 and NT$90.9.
Following Taiwan's four-day Tomb Sweeping Festival holiday, the local stock market's opening was the first trading in Taiwan since US President Donald Trump announced "reciprocal" tariffs against the US' global trading partners.
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