Foreign investors dump $1.5 billion in Taiwan stocks, but snap up Powerchip

Taiwan's stock market experienced a significant sell-off on Thursday, with foreign investors offloading approximately 48.33 billion yuan ($1.5 billion) worth of shares. This outflow occurred amidst a broader Asian market downturn, which saw South Korea's KOSPI index plummet over 6% and trigger a circuit breaker, while Japan's Nikkei 225 closed down 1915 points.

However, the Taiwan Stock Exchange managed to rebound from an earlier sharp decline of 661 points, ultimately closing just 6 points lower. This resilience was largely attributed to the performance of major technology companies like Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. (TSMC) and Hon Hai Precision Industry Co. (Foxconn).

Notably, despite the overall foreign sell-off, investors showed strong interest in Powerchip Semiconductor Manufacturing Corp. (PSMC). Over a two-day period, foreign funds purchased nearly 100,000 shares of PSMC, driving its stock price up by 10.54% from 69.2 yuan to 76.5 yuan. The trading volume for PSMC surged to 446,200 shares.

The top 10 stocks bought by foreign investors on Thursday included PSMC, Taiwan Cooperative Financial Holding Co., Nanya Technology Corp., Chinatrust Financial Holding Co., Pou Chen Corp., China Steel Corp., Taiwan Cement Corp., Mega Financial Holding Co., Chunghwa Telecom Co., and Far Eastern New Century Corp.