The TAIEX, Taiwan’s benchmark stock index, dropped 479 points, or 1.0%, to 44,325 in Tuesday morning trading, extending the previous session’s losses as weakness in electronic technology and technology services weighed on the market. The index fell to its lowest level since August 7, with both electronic technology and technology services sectors down 1.1%, mirroring the overnight decline in US tech stocks on Wall Street.
TSMC, the world’s largest contract chipmaker and a heavyweight that represents more than 40% of the market’s total value, slipped 1.4% after a 1.5% decline on Monday. Other major names also retreated, including MediaTek (-0.7%), Delta Electronics (-0.9%), and Hon Hai Precision Industry (-0.8%). Nanya Technology, a key Taiwanese memory chip producer, tumbled 5.1%.
Investor sentiment was further pressured by caution ahead of the release of US PCE price data, which will offer clues on the Federal Reserve’s policy stance at its upcoming meeting, as well as by upcoming FOMC remarks at the Jackson Hole Symposium.
