TAIEX jumps 6.4% in biggest gain since July, ending 7-session slide
Key Facts
Taiwan’s TAIEX rose as much as 6.4% on Monday, November 9, its biggest gain since July 31, ending a 7-session losing streak, according to Bloomberg. The rebound followed a week in which the index fell 12.19%, as semiconductor stocks declined globally. TSMC and MediaTek shares each rose at least 6% during the session, the report said. Authorities had announced measures to restrict short selling, while the Financial Stability Fund committee authorized its executive secretary to use funds as needed to ease market volatility. The authorization does not establish that the fund began buying stocks on Monday.
The new rules cut the intraday cap on short-sale orders for borrowed securities to 3% of a stock’s average daily trading volume over the previous 30 days, from 30%. The Financial Supervisory Commission also raised the minimum short-selling margin to 130% from 90%, according to Bloomberg. The changes were announced after the market closed on November 6, as part of moves aimed at curbing trading pressure. The Financial Stability Fund committee said the authorization came amid continued heightened global political and economic uncertainty. It said stock markets in the United States and Asia came under strong pressure after the U.S. midterm elections.
The TAIEX lost 12.19% in the week ended November 6, falling more than most major indexes, while the Philadelphia Semiconductor Index dropped 15.7% over the same period, according to the fund committee. On Friday, the Taiwanese index fell 1,873.08 points, or 4.51%, and closed at 39,701.64 points, below the 40,000-point level. The committee classified the decline as the fourth-largest single-session point drop and authorized its executive secretary that same day to use fund money as needed to ease market volatility. The committee said the decision was based on continued uncertainty in the global political and economic landscape. The fund’s most recent intervention ran from April 9, 2025, to January 12, 2026, following the announcement of U.S. reciprocal tariffs.
The decline coincided with heavy foreign investor selling: they were net sellers of Taiwanese stocks by NT$994.32 billion in October, the largest monthly net outflow on record, according to the fund committee. They sold an additional net NT$524.4 billion from the start of November through the committee’s statement on November 6. The figures show the scale of pressure preceding Monday’s rebound, while the selling wave coincided with losses in semiconductor stocks. TSMC closed at NT$375.44 on November 6, according to EL7 data; that was the previous session’s price, not the stock’s performance in Monday’s rebound. In Monday’s session, Bloomberg said TSMC and MediaTek were among the leading stocks, each gaining at least 6%.
Alongside the fund authorization and tighter short-selling rules, the Financial Supervisory Commission said it had encouraged listed companies to buy back their shares, reduced the number of shares available to borrow for short selling, and raised the deposits required to borrow shares. This follows an earlier period of fund intervention that ended on January 12, 2026, when it halted operations while saying it would continue to monitor domestic and international developments. In a report issued on April 13, the Ministry of Finance said the fund would continue to monitor economic developments at home and abroad. The current measures combine the fund’s authority to intervene directly with tighter restrictions on short selling, as the previous week’s losses reflected broad pressure on Taiwanese stocks. The sources did not specify when the current authorization would expire or how much money the fund might use.