MSCI Rebalancing Triggers Last-Minute Surge as Taiwan Shares Close 202 Points Lower

Taiwan’s stock market lost more than 200 points on Monday, but a dramatic final-session surge helped the benchmark recover from a much steeper drop.

The Taiex opened 106.76 points lower at 46,224.69 after U.S. semiconductor shares fell 3.47% on Friday. Asian markets followed lower, with South Korea’s market dropping more than 3.5% and Japan’s Nikkei falling nearly 1,600 points. Taiwan’s large-cap technology shares, including Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. and Unimicron, led the opening decline.

The index then fell as much as 881 points to around 45,450 as electronics and traditional industries weakened. The market regained ground later as optical and artificial-intelligence stocks advanced, while plastics, petrochemicals, shipping and financial shares also moved higher.

MSCI’s quarterly index adjustments took effect after the regular session. Trading surged by more than NT$306.4 billion in the final session, pushing the index up by about 150 points and limiting the day’s losses. The Taiex ended at 46,128.47, down 202.98 points, on turnover of NT$1.2 trillion.

Trading among the 10 stocks with the highest turnover was mixed. Nanya Technology led with NT$85.33 billion in turnover and gained NT$3 to close at NT$543. TSMC fell NT$15 to NT$2,405, while Winbond Electronics gained NT$1 to NT$182.50. Nanya Plastics closed at the daily limit of NT$242.50. MediaTek fell NT$60 to NT$3,925, while Largan Precision surged NT$585 to NT$7,650.