Taipei, April 16 (CNA) Shares in Taiwan moved sharply lower by almost 400 points Wednesday as the trade war between the United States and China escalated after Washington imposed a fresh round of export controls on Nvidia Corp. and Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. (AMD) selling to Chinese buyers, dealers said.
With the bellwether electronics index plunging 2.27 percent, the Taiex, the weighted index on the Taiwan Stock Exchange (TWSE), ended down 389.67 points, or 1.96 percent, at 19,468.00 after moving between 19,453.14 and 19,737.09. Turnover totaled NT$285.23 billion (US$8.77 billion).
“An increase in U.S.-China trade tensions prompted investors in the region to dump their stocks and Taiwan could not isolate itself from the sell-off,” Moore Securities Investment Consulting analyst Adam Lin said, referring to the latest actions by the U.S. Department of Commerce to impose export restrictions on Nvidia’s H20 and AMD’s MI308 chips, which are critical to artificial intelligence development.
“Shocked by the sanctions, U.S. tech stock futures are moving lower, pointing to an ugly opening later today and it was no surprise that large cap Taiwanese electronics stocks, highly correlated to American tech counterparts, came under heavy pressure in the day, pushing down the broader market significantly,” Lin said.
Tech stocks
Contract chipmaker Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. (TSMC), the most heavily weighted local stock, lost 2.51 percent to close at NT$855.00, contributing about 170 points to the Taiex’s fall.
“The latest losses have made TSMC shares weaker technically after the stock fell below the nearest technical support ahead of NT$870.00, the five-day moving average, today,” Lin said. “TSMC also remained concerned by the Trump administration’s threat to tariff semiconductors.”
Among other semiconductor stocks, smartphone IC designer MediaTek Inc. lost 1.44 percent to end at NT$1,365.00 and application-specific integrated circuit (ASIC) designer Alchip Technologies Inc. slid 8.05 percent to close at NT$2,170.00. However, United Microelectronics Corp., a smaller contract chipmaker, stayed resilient, rising 0.56 percent to close at NT$44.95.
Second to TSMC in terms of market value, iPhone assembler and AI server supplier Hon Hai Precision Industry Co. shed 2.51 percent to close at NT$136.00, and Wistron Corp., another AI server supplier, ended down 2.73 percent at NT$99.70.
“Uncertainties created by the U.S. tariff policies continued to send ripples through the market with sell-offs seen across the board,” Lin said.
Old economy sector
In the old economy sector, Cathay Real Estate Development Co. shed 2.34 percent to close at NT$18.80, and Huaku Development Co., another property developer, fell 3.74 percent to end at NT$103.00. In addition, Shihlin Paper Corp. lost 2.06 percent to close at NT$45.10, and rival YFY Inc. ended down 2.05 percent at NT$26.30.
With the financial sector falling 1.15 percent, Fubon Financial Holding Co. dropped 2.91 percent to close at NT$80.10, and Cathay Financial Holding Co. slid 2.14 percent to end at NT$54.80.
“Investors should pay close attention to TSMC’s investor conference (slated for Thursday) for more clues about the company’s business outlook amid global tariff concerns,” Lin said.
According to the TWSE, foreign institutional investors sold a net NT$21.01 billion worth of shares on the main board Wednesday.
