Taiwan shares plunge, dragged by falling U.S. tech stocks

Taipei, Aug. 8 (CNA) Shares in Taiwan took a beating Thursday, plunging more than 400 points as investors took cues from a sharp overnight fall for artificial intelligence (AI) stocks on the U.S. markets.

The Taiex, the Taiwan Stock Exchange's benchmark weighted index, ended down 425.18 points, or 2 percent, at 20,870.10. Turnover totaled NT$404.50 billion (US$12.44 billion).

The plunge came after Nvidia, which had been leading a rally in AI semiconductor-related stocks, dropped 5 percent on the Nasdaq Wednesday to close below US$100, with Super Micro Computer also falling 20 percent following a subpar earnings report.

In Taipei, the three major weighted stocks all slid, with contract chipmaker Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. dropping 2.61 percent to end at NT$896.

Meanwhile, iPhone assembler Hon Hai Precision Industry Co. fell 4.11 percent to end at NT$163.5, and smartphone IC designer MediaTek Inc. lost 3.04 percent to end at NT$1,115.00.

Bucking the downward trend, Asustek gained 6.92 percent to end at NT$502 after it reported a NT$15.9 earnings per share (EPS) for the second quarter on Wednesday.

Speaking with CNA, Cathay Futures Consultant analyst Tsai Ming-han (蔡明翰) said the plunge on the Taiex was mainly due to falls in the U.S. stock markets as well as sell-off by foreign institutional investors despite rebound over the past two sessions, which hurts investor confidence.

Foreign institutional investors sold a net NT$45.79 billion worth of shares on the main board Thursday, according to the TWSE.