Taiwan shares end sharply lower on Trump's tariffs

Taipei, March 3 (CNA) Shares in Taiwan moved sharply lower Monday as sentiment was hurt by U.S. President Donald Trump's declaration last week that his 25 percent tariffs on imports from Canada and Mexico will take effect on March 4 as planned, dealers said.

The Taiex, the Taiwan Stock Exchange's benchmark weighted index, ended down 296.93 points, or 1.29 percent, at 22,756.25 after moving between 22,611.10 and 22,775.02. Turnover totaled NT$419.95 billion (US$12.76 billion).

The market encountered heavy pressure as soon as it opened as large cap tech stocks tumbled, and the weakness remained to the end of the session to push down the Taiex below the nearest technical support of 22,839 points, the 120-day moving average.

The local market was hurt after being closed Feb. 27-28 for a long weekend when the U.S. markets came under pressure.

"Today's losses largely reflected U.S. volatility caused by Trump's confirmation of the tariff plan," Concord Securities analyst Kerry Huang said.

Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick said Sunday, however, that there would be tariffs imposed on Mexico and Canada but that they might not be the full 25 percent.

Investors in Taiwan also remained concerned, according to Huang, that Taiwan's semiconductors will face heavy tariffs from Trump, who has repeatedly accused Taiwan of stealing the chip business from the United States.

After its American depositary receipts fell more than 7 percent Feb. 27-28, contract chipmaker Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. (TSMC) fell 1.92 percent in Taipei on Monday to close at NT$1,020.00, off a low of NT$1,000.00.

Its losses contributed about 160 points to the Taiex's decline and contributed to a 1.85 percent fall in the electronics index.

"The market has been watching closely whether TSMC will invest more in the U.S. or whether the chipmaker will acquire a stake in Intel's factories under Trump's threats. The stock could test the NT$1,000-level again amid uncertainties," Huang said.

Scientech Corp., TSMC's IC assembly equipment supplier, shed 5.56 percent to end at NT$322.50, and smartphone IC designer MediaTek Inc. lost 2.97 percent to close at NT$1,470.00.

Second to TSMC in terms of market value, iPhone assembler Hon Hai Precision Industry Co. fell 2.30 percent to end at NT$170.00.

"While the electronics sector took a beating, some investors appeared willing to park their funds in select non-tech stocks," Huang said.

"The gains posted by financial stocks helped to offset some of the tech losses."

With the financial sector gaining 0.66 percent on hopes of generous cash dividend payouts, CTBC Financial Holding Co. rose 0.74 percent to close at NT$41.05, and Mega Financial Holding Co. gained 1.26 percent to end at NT$40.15.

Fubon Financial Holding Co. added 0.54 percent to close at NT$92.80, and Cathay Financial Holding Co. ended up 0.58 percent at NT$68.80.

In the old economy sector, food brand Uni-President Enterprises Corp. rose 2.58 percent to close at NT$83.60, and meat supplier Charoen Pokphand Enterprise (Taiwan) Co. added 0.98 percent to end at NT$103.50.

Meanwhile, Asia Cement Corp. gained 5.50 percent to close at NT$44.10.

"As long as tariff uncertainty continues to affect sentiment, the Taiex could trend even lower, with tech stocks in focus, before finding meaningful support at around 22,300 points," Huang said.

According to the Taiwan Stock Exchange, foreign institutional investors sold a net NT$57.24 billion in shares Monday.