TAIPEI (TVBS News) — Taiwan's stock market staged a dramatic comeback on Friday (April 11), erasing steep morning losses to finish with a robust gain of 528.74 points and close at 19,528.77. The remarkable turnaround followed an early session decline exceeding 581 points. Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company (TSMC, 台積電), the island's most valuable company and world's largest contract chipmaker, led the recovery with shares climbing NT$26 (approximately US$0.79) to finish at NT$889 (about US$27.10). Other technology heavyweights including MediaTek (聯發科) and Hon Hai Precision Industry (鴻海), also known as Foxconn internationally, similarly posted significant advances.
The Taiwan Stock Exchange's weighted index demonstrated remarkable resilience, recovering from its early slump to post substantial gains by the closing bell. Electronics manufacturers emerged as the session's standout performers, with companies like Quanta Computer (廣達), a major notebook producer, and Wistron Corporation (緯創), a prominent electronics manufacturing service provider, both reaching their maximum daily price increase limits. Taiwan's three major shipping companies similarly posted strong performances, helping drive the day's impressive total trading volume to NT$514.108 billion (US$15.67 billion).
While technology and shipping stocks soared, traditional sectors including steel production, cement manufacturing, and financial services lagged significantly behind, highlighting a pronounced divergence in market sentiment across different industries. The unexpected strength in Taiwan's equities market occurred against a backdrop of escalating trade tensions between the United States and China, a situation that had triggered substantial losses in American markets during Thursday's trading session, just hours before Taiwan's Friday opening.
The previous day's trading in New York saw the Dow Jones Industrial Average tumble more than 1,000 points, marking one of its worst sessions in recent months. Federal Reserve officials publicly voiced concerns regarding deteriorating consumer sentiment indicators. These monetary authorities cautioned that diminished consumer spending and business investment patterns could potentially worsen inflationary pressures while simultaneously creating additional complications for the central bank's ongoing efforts to calibrate appropriate monetary policy responses. ★