TECH TUMBLE:
Investors getting the jeebies about the prospects for future sales in the AI boom have caused stock markets in Taiwan, Japan and South Korea to tumble
The TAIEX recovered to above 40,000 points by the close of trading yesterday on late bargain hunting, but still posted a decline of more than 1,500 points as concerns over heavy spending on artificial intelligence (AI) weighed on investors.The index dipped below 40,000 points during the morning session as large tech stocks, such as Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) and MediaTek Inc (聯發科), came under pressure as nervous investors unwound their bets on the AI boom.The TAIEX closed down 1,564.18 points, or 3.76 percent, to 40,039.18, the seventh-largest single-session point drop in its history. It followed a plunge of 2,030.83 points, or 4.65 percent, on Tuesday, the third-largest single-session point decline, Taiwan Stock Exchange data showed.
A woman points at a graph on an electronic stock board at the Taiwan Stock Exchange in Taipei yesterday.
Turnover was NT$1.084 trillion (US$33.49 billion), up from NT$809.482 billion in the previous session, exchange data showed.Among the three major institutional investors, foreign institutional investors sold a net NT$22.25 billion of shares on the main board, and proprietary traders reduced their holdings by a net NT$18.6 billion, while investment trust firms increased theirs by NT$9.09 billion, the data showed
