Taiex falls below 17,000 early Tuesday

The Taiwan stock market’s benchmark index fell below 17,000 points just minutes after the market opened Tuesday following heavy losses on U.S. markets overnight, but rebounded later in the morning.

The Taiex opened down 42.53 points, or 0.25 percent, at 17,005.84 Tuesday and moved to a low of 16,905.13 at 9:04 a.m. before starting its slow climb back up.

Contract chipmaker Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. (TSMC), led the downward plunge, falling as low as NT$552 (US$18.94) and accounting for a 50-point drop in the Taiex on its own, after its American depositary receipts fell 1.73 percent overnight.

As of 11:46 a.m., however, TSMC was back even for the day at NT$558.00, while the Taiex was still down 0.36 percent at 16,986.29.

Investors in Taiwan reacted to the downward pressure seen in markets in the United States, which were rattled by a White House announcement that fresh monthly inflation data to be released Tuesday will be “extraordinarily elevated.”

Update: Taiwan shares closed down 57.46 points, or 0.34 percent, at 16,990.91

The Dow Jones Industrial Average index fell 1.19 percent, the Standard & Poor’s (S&P) 500 lost 1.69 percent, the tech-heavy Nasdaq ended 2.18 percent lower, and the Philadelphia Semiconductor Index closed down 2.09 percent overnight.

The Taiex is likely to continue to test 17,000 points in the short term as foreign institutional investors continue to sell holdings on Taiwan’s main exchange and the New Taiwan dollar falls against the U.S. dollar, dealers said.

The Taiwan dollar on Monday fell by NT$0.144 to close at NT$29.050 against the U.S. dollar, its lowest level against the greenback in more than 18 months, and had fallen further to NT$29.18 late Tuesday morning.

Source: Focus Taiwan News Channel