Taiwan stocks plunge as TSMC, Delta Electronics and Taiwan Optical tumble

Taiwan stocks moved lower throughout Wednesday’s session, with more than 1,000 listed companies falling as investors sold semiconductor, memory and electronic-component shares.

The index opened down 47.4 points at 46,901.32 after heavyweight stocks including Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. and United Microelectronics Corp. declined. Gains in MediaTek, Realtek and some plastics, petrochemical and shipping shares briefly brought the market close to flat.

Selling then intensified. TSMC, Delta Electronics and Taiwan Optical fell sharply, while MediaTek also turned lower. The benchmark ultimately lost 784 points and closed at 46,164.72. Trading value totaled NT$918.3 billion.

The decline followed a broad retreat in global markets. All four major U.S. indexes fell on Tuesday, with the Philadelphia Semiconductor Index dropping more than 2%. Asian markets followed on Wednesday, as South Korea’s benchmark lost more than 3% and Japan’s Nikkei opened down more than 1,500 points.

Among the ten stocks with the highest trading value, most declined. MediaTek fell NT$40 to NT$4,275, with NT$95.032 billion in turnover, while TSMC dropped NT$55 to NT$2,385 on NT$47.338 billion in turnover. Nanya Technology rose NT$3 to NT$237.50, and Nanya Technology’s memory affiliate Nanya Technology closed unchanged at NT$518. Delta Electronics fell NT$135 to NT$1,730, while Elite Material and Macrotech gained.