Narrowed Decline After Lower Open
Selloff pressure in U.S. tech stocks spilled over, and Taiwan stocks opened lower and fluctuated on the 2nd, plunging over 800 points in early trading to fall below the 45000 mark. Deeply oversold heavyweight and high-priced stocks then rebounded, narrowing the decline to close at 44920.14 points, down 291.69 points or 0.65%, with turnover of NT$758.875 billion. The OTC index bucked the trend to close higher, up 0.7% at 372.84 points.
Intraday Plunge of About 812 Points
The weighted index opened at 45034.53 points, with selling pressure emerging in early trading to an intraday low of 44399.1 points, down about 812 points from the previous trading day's close. Buying then gradually returned, lifting the index to an intraday high of 45156.17 points, a rebound of over 750 points from the intraday low, but it still failed to hold the 45000 integer level into the close.
Mixed Heavyweights With Stock Rotation
Among heavyweights, TSMC closed at NT$2330, down NT$40 or 1.69%, with sell orders of 5,910 lots still seen in the closing auction, continuing to pressure the broader market. Hon Hai, MediaTek and Delta Electronics stabilized, partly offsetting the impact of the TSMC decline. Funds rotated toward selected electronic components, materials and optoelectronics stocks, showing a stock-rotation pattern.
Post-market data showed 915 gainers and 845 decliners among listed and OTC stocks, including 41 limit-up and 8 limit-down stocks, so gainers still outnumbered decliners even as the weighted index closed lower. Among listed sectors, paper, plastics and food-related traditional industries held up relatively well, while financials and some electronics sectors faced selling pressure. In terms of volume, the actively managed CTBC Taiwan Income ETF, which goes ex-dividend tomorrow, led the market with about 1.013 million lots traded, followed by the Capital Taiwan Weighted +2X ETF with about 272,000 lots. Among individual stocks, AUO traded about 220,000 lots and edged up 0.33%; Innolux rose 4.7% with about 145,000 lots traded; fiberglass-cloth materials stock Fuqiao hit limit-up with a 9.88% gain on about 89,000 lots traded.
Foreign Investors Sell for 3rd Straight Session, Investment Trusts Buy for 15th Straight Session
Among the three major institutional investor groups, foreign investors posted a net sale of NT$73.521 billion, remaining net sellers for a 3rd straight trading day with cumulative withdrawals of about NT$254.8 billion. Investment trusts bucked the trend with a net purchase of NT$36.117 billion, adding to positions for a 15th straight trading day, showing a divergence with foreign investors continuing to cut positions while investment trusts actively absorbed shares. Proprietary dealers posted a net sale of NT$15.288 billion, bringing the three major groups to a combined net sale of NT$52.692 billion. According to TAIFEX statistics, foreign investors' net short open interest in TAIFEX index futures fell to 89,379 contracts, down 2,862 contracts from the previous trading day, but overall net shorts remained near 90,000 contracts, so it remains to be seen whether foreign investors will continue to cover shorts and whether spot-market selling pressure can ease in tandem.