Taiwan stocks plunge 650 points amid market turmoil

TAIPEI (TVBS News) — Taiwan's stock market faced a dramatic downturn on Tuesday (March 11), plunging 650 points at opening to hit a low of 21,769.57 points. The sell-off was led by TSMC (台積電), which saw its shares tumble NT$33 to NT$964, a sharp 3.31% drop.

The broader market mirrored the decline, with major players like MediaTek (聯發科) and Foxconn (鴻海) also taking significant hits. MediaTek's shares slid NT$55 to NT$1,345, a 3.94% decline, while Foxconn's stock dipped NT$6 to NT$166, marking a 3.49% decrease.

This downturn followed a challenging Monday (March 10), when Taiwan's weighted index closed at 22,459.15 points, down 116.92 points or 0.52%, with a total transaction value of NT$349.168 billion. Notably, the three major institutional investors offloaded a net total of NT$34.502 billion in shares.

The ripple effects of global market uncertainty were evident as the U.S. stock market also faced a steep decline. The Dow Jones index nosedived 890.01 points, or 2.08%, closing at 41,911.71 points. Tech giants bore the brunt of the sell-off, with Tesla plummeting 15%, its largest single-day drop since September 2020.

The Philadelphia Semiconductor Index mirrored the downward trend, falling 224.50 points, or 4.85%, to close at 4,288.00 points. NVIDIA (輝達) dropped 5.1%, and TSMC's ADR slipped 3.6%. Amid the turmoil, investors sought refuge in U.S. Treasury ETFs. Yuanta's 25-Year US Treasury ETF rose 1.45%, while Fubon's 20-Year US Treasury ETF gained 1.5%, reflecting a flight to safety in uncertain times.