TAIPEI (Taiwan News) — Taiwan’s stock market fell on Tuesday, with the benchmark index opening lower and extending losses throughout the session as investors adopted a cautious stance ahead of Nvidia’s earnings and key US economic indicators.
The Taiwan Capitalization Weighted Stock Index (TAIEX) closed down 691.19 points at 26,756.12, its seventh-largest single-day decline this year. Turnover reached NT$640.4 billion (US$20.6 billion), according to CNA and CTEE.
TSMC came under selling pressure, slipping 2.77% to NT$1,405 on 41,949 lots, or 41.949 million shares, traded. MediaTek fell 4.88% to NT$1,170, Foxconn declined 2.54% to NT$230, and Delta Electronics eased 1.97% to NT$898.
Despite broad weakness in electronics, Aspeed Technology, the highest-priced stock on the TAIEX, gained 6.21% to NT$6,500. Veteran analyst Chang Chen-hao (張陳浩) said the performance suggests the market remains in a corrective phase within a broader upward trend.
Battery backup unit stocks also showed resilience. Changs Ascending hit the daily limit at NT$42.35, while Stl Technology, C-Tech United, and Celxpert Energy posted modest gains.
Morgan Stanley cautioned that rising memory prices could constrain hardware makers' profits, raising profitability concerns for original equipment manufacturers and original design manufacturers. The brokerage lowered target prices for Acer, Asus, Compal Electronics, Gigabyte Technology, and Pegatron, with Asus recording the most significant decline at 7.7%.
In the NAND flash segment, SanDisk reportedly sought outsourced production and identified PSMC as a potential partner. PSMC rose 2.57% on the session’s heaviest trading of 464,000 lots.
PGIM High Growth Fund manager Liao Ping-kun (廖炳焜) said Nvidia’s upcoming earnings are the key driver for market sentiment this week. A solid report, he added, would help ease concerns about an artificial intelligence-related market bubble.
With major foundries and assembly firms signaling firm AI demand for the fourth quarter and next year, he expects global AI momentum to remain steady and sees room for the TAIEX to challenge new highs before year-end.
Chang Chen-hao said part of Tuesday’s downturn was linked to recent remarks from US President Donald Trump, who claimed the US had lost chip business to Taiwan. The comments weighed on electronics shares, he said.
However, Chang noted that leading stocks continue to set new highs, indicating the pullback aligns with a bull-market correction rather than a shift in trend.
Chang added that expectations of no US rate cut in December have weighed on the market since late October but said the impact is likely to diminish, with Taiwan stocks expected to gradually return to their previous upward path.
This information is not intended as personalized financial advice. Investors are encouraged to conduct their own research and analysis before making investment decisions.
