U.S. Selloff Drags Asian Stocks, TAIFEX Futures Fall Below 46K
Market concerns over Alphabet artificial intelligence spending weighed Thursday, with all four major U.S. indexes closing lower and the Philadelphia Semiconductor Index falling 1.42%, while TSMC ADR also fell 1.75%. In Asian markets on Friday, Japan and South Korea both opened sharply lower, with Korean stocks plunging more than 3%. In Taiwan stocks, night-session TSMC futures fell NT$30, and TAIFEX futures fell 643 points to close at 45,926. November TAIFEX futures opened Friday down 1,159 points at 45,410, losing the 46K mark, with financial futures and mini-electronics futures falling together, showing short-term selling pressure spreading broadly.
Institutional Investors Sell NT$81.666 Billion, Foreign Shorts Near 90,000 Contracts
According to Sinopac Futures, the index fell 667.25 points Thursday to close at 46,368.33, with turnover of NT$0.82 trillion. TAIFEX futures fell 680 points to 46,569, with a premium of 200.67 points. On the chips front, the three major institutional investors sold a net NT$81.666 billion. In TAIFEX net positions, the three major institutional investors increased net shorts by 3,538 contracts to -793 contracts, of which foreign investors increased net shorts by 4,605 contracts to -89,522 contracts. Among the top ten traders, specific legal entities in all-month TAIFEX reduced net longs by 3,609 contracts to 13,579 contracts. KGI Futures noted that foreign investors turned bearish after the prior day sharp rebound, with shorts rising to a high near 90,000 contracts, turning cautious in the short term and remaining the main short-term pressure source.
Market Structure Weakens, Focus on GDP and AI Earnings Validation
Overall, the pattern of synchronized rebound in prior leading stocks lasted only one day, with advancing issues shrinking back to just over 300 today and declining issues returning to over 900, leaving market structure almost back to that of the previous trading days. Capital rotated quickly between electronics and financials, with attention on whether the high-volume selling in UMC extends into foundry-sector pressure, and whether Massive and Nanya Technology, Taiwan Union Technology can hold the prior day gains. Taishin Futures believes this week is a key test of both macro conditions and AI monetization, with tech giants AI earnings arriving in succession, focusing on whether huge AI capital expenditure translates into real monetization. On data, at 20:30 Thursday evening U.S. Q3 preliminary GDP and core PCE price index will be released, testing whether the U.S. economy maintains a soft landing and the inflation stickiness most watched by the Federal Reserve. With the index pulling back in a single day and the weekly trend turning down, it is for now seen as a technical correction after the prior day sharp surge, with the market still in a choppy pattern since October 20 repeatedly testing bargain-hunting support near the quarterly line.