Taiwan's benchmark TAIEX fell 1,612.60 points, about 3.6%, to close at 43,307.54 on November 3, the seventh-largest single-day point drop on record. The Financial Supervisory Commission (FSC) attributed the slide to international markets and said it is monitoring conditions closely.
According to the United Daily News, Taiwan shares were broadly lower on November 3, with the index sinking as much as 1,728.56 points to an intraday low of 43,191.58. The close was down 1,612.60 points, which the paper ranked as the seventh-largest point drop in the market's history. The percentage decline was reported as roughly 3.58 percent in one place and 3.59 percent in another.
광고 문의 · 300×250The index has now fallen for four straight sessions, losing 3,727.44 points in total. Turnover was about NT$928 billion. The United Daily News said investor sentiment had turned sharply cautious in a short time.
Foreign and ETF selling weighs on heavyweights
The three major institutional investor groups net sold about NT$146.4 billion, of which foreign investors accounted for about NT$107.3 billion. Seven of the ten stocks foreigners sold most were ETFs, with the top three all active ETFs. Memory and chip names such as Winbond, PSMC and Nanya Technology also saw heavy selling.
Large caps were hit as well. The United Daily News reported TSMC slipping below NT$2,300, while Delta Electronics fell 6.27 percent to NT$1,270, an eight-month low, and was overtaken by Foxconn in market capitalization.
FSC: international factors, fundamentals sound
An official at the FSC's Securities and Futures Bureau pointed to global market moves, investor focus on U.S. big-tech earnings and geopolitical uncertainty. The FSC said it is monitoring the situation and has asked the Taiwan Stock Exchange and the Taipei Exchange to watch global financial markets closely.
The commission also stressed that fundamentals remain solid. At the end of September the price-to-earnings ratio was about 26.68 and the cash dividend yield 1.54 percent (1.58 percent including stock dividends), while cumulative revenue of listed and OTC companies through September was about NT$49.89 trillion, up 38.21 percent year on year. The margin maintenance ratio stood at 173.62 percent on November 2 and short selling was 4.2 percent of turnover. The direct trigger of the drop and the timing of any rebound have not been confirmed.