Taiwan shares end down after latest Trump chip tariff threat

Taipei, Feb. 19 (CNA) Shares in Taiwan moved lower Wednesday after U.S. President Donald Trump threatened overnight to impose a 25 percent tariff on chips, cars and pharmaceuticals, dealers said.

The Taiex, the weighted index on the Taiwan Stock Exchange (TWSE), ended down 62.03 points, or 0.26 percent, at 23,604.08 after moving between 23,550.99 and 23,683.46. Turnover totaled NT$380.00 billion (US$11.60 billion).

The market opened down 0.32 percent, with investor sentiment spooked by Trump's latest threat of tariffs, particularly a semiconductor levy, likely to take effect in April. Selling largely focused on contract chipmaker Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. (TSMC), leading the weakness until the end of the session, dealers said.

TSMC, the most heavily weighted stock, lost 0.91 percent to close at NT$1,090,00, off a low of NT$1,085.00. The stock's losses contributed about 80 points to the Taiex decline and sent the electronics index and semiconductor sub-index lower by 0.38 percent and 0.57 percent, respectively.

"Trump released more information on chip tariffs on Tuesday so it was no surprise that TSMC and the tech sector were impacted," MasterLink Securities analyst Tom Tang said.

"The silver lining is that the tariffs are not set to go into effect until April 1 so there is some time for negotiations," he added.

"Benefiting from its sound fundamentals, TSMC shares still stayed above the nearest technical support at around NT$1,076.00, the 60-day moving average," Tang said.

Bucking the downturn, IC packaging and testing services provider ASE Technology Holding Co. rose 2.51 percent to end at NT$187.50 after the group opened a new facility in Malaysia Tuesday. Memory chip supplier Nanya Technology Corp. soared 10 percent, the maximum daily increase, to close at NT$39.15 after its American counterpart Micron Technology, Inc. jumped 7.31 percent overnight.

Second to TSMC in terms of market value, iPhone assembler Hon Hai Precision Industry Co., which also rolls out AI servers, fell 0.27 percent to end at NT$183.00, while Quanta Computer Inc., another AI server maker, rose 1.89 percent to close at NT$269.50.

"Select old economy stocks attracted bargain hunting, offsetting TSMC's losses throughout the trading session," Tang said.

With the petrochemical index up 0.75 percent, bouncing back from Tuesday's slump, Formosa Plastics Corp. rose 1.69 percent to end at NT$39.00, Nan Ya Plastics Corp. gained 1.97 percent to close at NT$33.65, and Formosa Chemicals & Fibre Corp. ended up 1.75 percent at NT$29.05.

Elsewhere in the old economy sector, food brand Uni-President Enterprises Corp. rose 0.62 percent to close at NT$81.50, and meat supplier Charoen Pokphand Enterprise (Taiwan) Co. added 1.04 percent to end at NT$97.40.

In the financial sector, which lost 0.56 percent, Fubon Financial Holding Co. lost 2.01 percent to close at NT$92.40, and Cathay Financial Holding Co. dropped 0.72 percent at NT$68.70.

"As tariff concerns could continue to affect large-cap tech stocks like TSMC, investors should pay attention to smaller stocks, which should benefit from rotational buying," Tang said, referring to the over-the-counter market, where the index rose 0.35 percent Wednesday.

According to the TWSE, foreign institutional investors sold a net NT$2.58 billion worth of shares on the main board Wednesday.