Taipei: Shares in Taiwan closed lower on Thursday, led by electronics stocks, after renewed concerns about an AI bubble drove overnight losses in the United States, dealers said. The Taiex, the Taiwan Stock Exchange’s benchmark index, ended down 56.64 points, or 0.21 percent, at 27,468.53 after moving between 27,350.77 and 27,569.44. Turnover totaled NT$446.41 billion (US$14.16 billion).
According to Focus Taiwan, the local market largely fluctuated below the previous closing level following a 1.81 percent decline on the tech-heavy Nasdaq index on Wednesday. This decline followed reports that a major investor of Oracle withdrew from one of the American cloud service provider’s infrastructure projects, as noted by Concord Capital Management analyst Lu Chin-wei. “That renewed fears over AI bubbles, triggering selling in Taiwan’s large-cap AI-related stocks,” Lu said, though Oracle has disputed the report.
“Investors seized on the lead as an excuse to pocket their recent gains,” Lu added. “The silver lining was that the Taiex recovered from its initial downturn by the end of the session.” Lu also mentioned that the index saw strong technical support ahead of 27,400 points around the 60-day moving average.
Contract chipmaker Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. (TSMC) remained unchanged at NT$1,430.00, after dipping to a low of NT$1,415.00. Smartphone IC designer MediaTek Inc. lost 0.35 percent, ending at NT$1,420.00, after hitting a low of NT$1,415.00. In contrast, memory chip supplier Nanya Technology Corp. rose 3.34 percent to close at NT$170.00, buoyed by a strong outlook from U.S.-based Micron Technology Inc.
In the tech sector, AI server maker and iPhone assembler Hon Hai Precision Industry Co. fell 0.23 percent to end at NT$216.00, while Delta Electronics Inc., a power management provider for AI devices, rose 0.11 percent to close at NT$891.00. “The financial sector stayed resilient,” Lu observed, suspecting government-led funds were behind the buying to stabilize the broader market.
The financial index saw a 0.12 percent rise, with Cathay Financial Holding Co. climbing 1.64 percent to NT$74.40 and CTBC Financial Holding Co. adding 0.82 percent to close at NT$49.35. Rotational buying persisted in old economy industries, with Uni-President Enterprises Corp. rising 2.73 percent to NT$79.00 and Ve Wong Corp. increasing 1.14 percent to NT$39.90. However, China Steel Corp. fell 0.82 percent to NT$18.25, and Tung Ho Steel Corp. ended down 0.46 percent at NT$65.10.
According to the TWSE, foreign institutional investors sold a net NT$27.01 billion worth of shares on the main board on Thursday.