Taiwan shares plunge over 1,500 points Thursday morning

Taipei, Oct. 15 (CNA) Shares in Taiwan tumbled more than 1,500 points at one point Thursday morning, as heavy losses on other major Asian markets and Wall Street triggered a sell-off amid renewed inflation concerns, dealers said.

As of 11:14 a.m., the Taiex, the Taiwan Stock Exchange's benchmark index, had dropped 1,612.82 points, or 3.32 percent, to 47,013.01, dealers said.

The plunge was led by large-cap technology stocks after higher-than-expected U.S. inflation data led investors to anticipate a more hawkish monetary policy from the U.S. Federal Reserve, dealers said.

On Wednesday, the U.S. consumer price index (CPI) data for September showed that inflation rose 3.7 percent, higher than the market forecast of 3.6 percent, fueling expectations of a Fed rate hike, dealers said.

Following the release of the CPI data, sell-off occurred on U.S. markets Wednesday, and Asian markets followed suit Thursday morning, with tech stocks in focus, as concerns mounted that AI-related developers would face higher financing costs if interest rates continued to rise, dealers said.

In Taipei, the electronics index had fallen 3.63 percent as of 11:14 a.m., pulling the Taiex sharply lower.

Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. (TSMC), which accounts for more than 40 percent of the market's total capitalization, was down 2.01 percent at NT$2,440.00 (US$75.54).

Memory chip supplier Nanya Technology Corp. plunged 9.16 percent to NT$436.50, while smartphone IC designer MediaTek Inc. dropped 5.92 percent to NT$4,210.00.

Among other tech stocks, iPhone assembler and AI server maker Hon Hai Precision Industry Co. was down 1.85 percent at NT$238.50, while power-management solutions provider Delta Electronics Inc. fell 8.40 percent to NT$1,635.00.