Taiwan’s TAIEX Posts Record Intraday Loss of 3,737.67 Points as TSMC Hits Limit Down
Key Facts
Taiwan’s TAIEX fell 3,737.67 points during trading on November 6, reaching an intraday low of 37,837.05 points and posting the largest intraday point loss in its history, according to Taiwan’s Central News Agency. The drop followed an opening at 38,915.76 points, down 2,658.96 points from the previous close. Trading showed that the sell-off extended to major chipmakers and technology companies on the island. TSMC shares hit the daily limit down at 2,020 Taiwan dollars, a decline of 220 dollars. The agency estimated that the company’s market value fell by about 5.7 trillion Taiwan dollars during the session.
Pressure was not limited to Taiwan’s largest listed company: MediaTek shares hit limit down at 3,115 Taiwan dollars, while Delta Electronics fell to its limit down at 1,020 dollars. Foxconn shares also fell more than 9%, according to Taiwan’s Central News Agency. The moves came as a sell-off swept global technology and chip stocks. The disruption in the technology sector thus spread to a group of Taiwanese companies central to semiconductor and electronics supply chains. TSMC was at the center of the move, with its share price touching the daily limit for declines.
Taiwan’s Central News Agency attributed the sell-off to concerns that the U.S. midterm election results could affect policies on building AI data centers. The agency reported that the results had introduced a "major variable" for those policies, alongside sharp declines in all four U.S. indexes. Japanese and South Korean markets also opened with steep losses, broadening pressure across Asia. The Associated Press said Democratic victories across the United States raised the possibility that governments could impose a pause on building additional data centers. Any slowdown in construction could affect demand for AI chips as investors monitor how quickly the sector’s growth translates into infrastructure investment.
Taiwan’s decline followed a broad retreat on Wall Street during the November 5 session. The S&P 500 lost about 334.89 points, or 4.4%, to close at 7,353.73 points, according to the Associated Press. The Dow Jones fell 1,833.06 points, or 3.4%, to 51,523.06 points. In a report published by Reuters during Thursday’s session, the Nasdaq fell to 24,712.60 points, more than 10% below its record close of 27,599.89 points, recorded on October 6. The report linked growing questions about major technology companies’ spending on data centers and chips to how quickly those investments would turn into profits.
Reuters noted that the Nasdaq lost more than 2.5 trillion dollars in market value during October, adding to investors’ sensitivity to AI-related spending. It also quoted Samir Samana of the Wells Fargo Investment Institute as saying that a full transfer of political control from one party to another could bring "a great deal of uncertainty, disruption and abrupt policy change." In Asia, the Nikkei fell more than 6% after trading opened in Japan on Friday, according to the Associated Press. This followed an AI-linked sell-off on Wall Street and coincided with declines in Japanese and South Korean markets reported by Taiwan’s news agency. Taiwanese stocks thus faced a pressured session after losses in the U.S. market had spread to other Asian centers.
The TAIEX closed at 45,211.83 points on October 30, then at 41,574.72 points on November 5, according to EL7 daily data. Over the same period, U.S.-listed TSM shares fell from 406.13 dollars to 353.1 dollars, closing at the latter level on November 5, the same data showed. These levels provide context for the index and the stock’s performance in the days before the November 6 session, while the documented record loss for the index on Friday was an intraday loss. On the U.S. economic calendar, the October jobs report was scheduled for release on Friday, November 6, according to a Reuters report. Investors were watching for its release after the sell-off in U.S. and Taiwanese stocks and other Asian markets.