Taiwan Weighted closes 3.59% lower at 43,307.54 points

The Taiwan Weighted Index, also known as the TAIEX, suffered a sharp technology-led sell-off on Tuesday, November 3. The benchmark closed at 43,307.54 points, down 1,612.60 points or 3.59 percent. The session's decline was the seventh-largest single-session point fall on record, according to Focus Taiwan.

Technology stocks drive the decline

The index moved between 43,191.58 and 44,614.64 points before ending below the 44,000-point level. Turnover increased to NT dollars 928.06 billion from NT dollars 799.69 billion on Monday, a sign of heavier activity during the sell-off.

Electronics and semiconductor stocks were at the center of the retreat. Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company fell 1.50 percent to NT dollars 2,295.00 and accounted for about 280 points of the index decline, according to Focus Taiwan. MediaTek lost 7.43 percent, while ASE Technology Holding fell 8.61 percent. The financial sector also weakened, falling 2.54 percent.

Taiwan News reported that selling extended across high-priced technology, memory, printed circuit board and optical-communications shares. Among the few areas to resist the decline were selected defensive stocks, airlines and some cybersecurity shares.

AI concerns remain the main catalyst

Focus Taiwan attributed the selling to an overnight drop in United States technology stocks and continuing concerns about the scale of artificial intelligence investment. The Philadelphia Semiconductor Index had fallen 3.37 percent and the Nasdaq Composite 1.07 percent in the preceding US session. An analyst cited by Focus Taiwan also pointed to elevated yields, which could increase the financing burden for large cloud-service providers and make returns on AI infrastructure spending harder to achieve.

Market pressure was not limited to overseas technology concerns. Taiwan News cited uncertainty surrounding US midterm elections and monetary policy as additional sources of volatility. Foreign institutional investors sold a net NT dollars 107.31 billion of shares on Taiwan's main board, according to Taiwan Stock Exchange data cited by Focus Taiwan.

Sharp move after Monday's loss

The latest decline followed a 0.65 percent fall on Monday, when the TAIEX closed at 44,920.14 points. The two-session retreat therefore leaves the index 3.59 percent below that previous close. The move highlights the market's sensitivity to global technology valuations, funding conditions and foreign-investor flows, but it does not by itself establish a change in the longer-term earnings outlook for Taiwan's technology sector.

Further coverage of the Taiwan Weighted Index is available on the TAIEX topic page.