The TAIEX plunged 2,065.87 points, or 9.7 percent, to close at 19,232.35 yesterday, the highest single-day percentage loss on record, as investors braced for US President Donald Trump’s tariffs after an extended holiday weekend.
Amid the pessimistic atmosphere, 945 listed companies led by large-cap stocks — including Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電), Hon Hai Precision Industry Co (鴻海精密) and Largan Precision Co (大立光) — fell by the daily maximum of 10 percent at the close, Taiwan Stock Exchange data showed.
The number of listed companies ending limit-down set a new record, the exchange said.
Photo: Cheng I-hwa, AFP
The TAIEX plunged by daily maxiumu in just 10 minutes after the market opened, even though the Financial Supervisory Commission announced temporary measures on Sunday that aim to curb short selling and keep local shares stabilized.
“The Taiwan index is tech-dominant and their tech companies are closely tied to US clients, thus suffering from dual concerns related to the US over AI [artificial intelligence] investments, and both first and second order impact of tariffs,” Aberdeen Investments fund manager Ng Xin-yao (黃新耀) told Bloomberg News.
Despite the sell-off, turnover on the local market totaled only NT$147.295 billion (US$4.46 billion), the lowest single-day total in more than two years, while foreign institutional investors bought a net NT$16.82 billion of shares yesterday, exchange data showed.
“The low turnover showed many investors were reluctant to buy the dip as they expect more losses to follow due to the tariff shocks,” Mega International Investment Services Corp (兆豐國際投顧) analyst Alex Huang (黃國偉) said.
The local stock market was closed for a holiday on Thursday and Friday last week as trillions of US dollars were wiped off the value of global stocks and nations scrambled to limit the impact of Trump’s reciprocal tariffs announced on Wednesday last week, which imposed an unexpectedly high 32 percent tariff on Taiwan.
Taiwan Stock Exchange chairman Sherman Lin (林修銘) said before the market opened that the local bourse would inevitably fluctuate because of the shocks from global markets.
“The exchange will pay attention to the changes in the international situation and cooperate closely with local companies,” Lin said. “The government will support local industries with full force and start conversations with the US government to seek the possibility of lowering the tariffs.”
Lin also encouraged listed companies to make financial information transparent, keep investors posted on their responses to Trump’s reciprocal tariffs and implement share buyback schemes to stabilize prices and bolster investor confidence.
Meanwhile, the steering committee of the National Stabilization Fund is expected to hold a meeting as soon as today to discuss how and when to utilize the NT$500 billion fund to help buffer the market sell-off, the Ministry of Finance said.
Beyond Taiwan, Asian and European equities collapsed on a black Monday for markets after China hammered the US with its own hefty tariffs, ramping up a trade war that many fear could spark a recession.
Hong Kong lost 13.22 percent, its worst performance in nearly three decades, and Shanghai shed more than 7 percent. Tokyo and Singapore fell almost 8 percent, while Seoul gave up more than 5 percent, triggering a so-called sidecar mechanism — for the first time in eight months — that briefly halted some trading.
Sydney, Wellington, Manila and Mumbai were also deep in the red, Frankfurt dived 10 percent, while London and Paris both dropped about 5 percent.
Additional reporting by AFP and CNA
‘ABUSE OF POWER’: Lee Chun-yi allegedly used a Control Yuan vehicle to transport his dog to a pet grooming salon and take his wife to restaurants, media reports said Control Yuan Secretary-General Lee Chun-yi (李俊俋) resigned on Sunday night, admitting that he had misused a government vehicle, as reported by the media. Control Yuan Vice President Lee Hung-chun (李鴻鈞) yesterday apologized to the public over the issue. The watchdog body would follow up on similar accusations made by the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) and would investigate the alleged misuse of government vehicles by three other Control Yuan members: Su Li-chiung (蘇麗瓊), Lin Yu-jung (林郁容) and Wang Jung-chang (王榮璋), Lee Hung-chun said. Lee Chun-yi in a statement apologized for using a Control Yuan vehicle to transport his dog to a
INDO-PACIFIC REGION: Royal Navy ships exercise the right of freedom of navigation, including in the Taiwan Strait and South China Sea, the UK’s Tony Radakin told a summit Freedom of navigation in the Indo-Pacific region is as important as it is in the English Channel, British Chief of the Defence Staff Admiral Tony Radakin said at a summit in Singapore on Saturday. The remark came as the British Royal Navy’s flagship aircraft carrier, the HMS Prince of Wales, is on an eight-month deployment to the Indo-Pacific region as head of an international carrier strike group. “Upholding the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea, and with it, the principles of the freedom of navigation, in this part of the world matters to us just as it matters in the
Taiwan yesterday denied Chinese allegations that its military was behind a cyberattack on a technology company in Guangzhou, after city authorities issued warrants for 20 suspects. The Guangzhou Municipal Public Security Bureau earlier yesterday issued warrants for 20 people it identified as members of the Information, Communications and Electronic Force Command (ICEFCOM). The bureau alleged they were behind a May 20 cyberattack targeting the backend system of a self-service facility at the company. “ICEFCOM, under Taiwan’s ruling Democratic Progressive Party, directed the illegal attack,” the warrant says. The bureau placed a bounty of 10,000 yuan (US$1,392) on each of the 20 people named in
The High Court yesterday found a New Taipei City woman guilty of charges related to helping Beijing secure surrender agreements from military service members. Lee Huei-hsin (李慧馨) was sentenced to six years and eight months in prison for breaching the National Security Act (國家安全法), making illegal compacts with government employees and bribery, the court said. The verdict is final. Lee, the manager of a temple in the city’s Lujhou District (蘆洲), was accused of arranging for eight service members to make surrender pledges to the Chinese People’s Liberation Army in exchange for money, the court said. The pledges, which required them to provide identification
RSS