Taiwan stocks plunge over 2,000 points on Monday

The TAIEX, the weighted index on the Taiwan Stock Exchange, closed at 19,232.35 points, down 2,065.87 points, or 9.7 percent, both all-time records for daily point and percentage losses.

A total of 1,702 listed and over-the-counter (OTC) stocks hit the daily limit-down, including 936 on the main board and 766 on the OTC market. Key sectors such as electronics, semiconductors, automobiles, shipping, textiles, and finance saw across-the-board declines.

Chipmaker TSMC opened with a limit-down gap and remained locked at the limit throughout the session, closing at 848 New Taiwan dollars (about 25.67 U.S. dollars), marking its first such drop since December 2008.

The trading volume of the island's stock market shrank sharply to 147.3 billion New Taiwan dollars, the lowest since Dec. 30, 2022.

The market reopened Monday following the four-day Tomb-Sweeping Day holiday, encountering compounded pressure from two consecutive days of global stock market losses. The index opened sharply lower at 20,153.57 points and continued to plunge throughout the session.

Local analysts have warned that the market has yet to find a bottom and could face further forced selling on Tuesday, and prolonged tariff tensions could deal lasting damage to the island's economy and stock markets.

Taiwan's previous largest daily market drop was recorded on Aug. 5, 2024.