Taiwan ordered the financial regulator on Friday to “stabilise” the stock market, as the island’s tech-heavy index was caught up in a massive sell-off hitting global markets.
Shares in Taiwanese chipmaking giant TSMC plummeted as much as 9.8%, dragging the Taiex as much as 9% lower during trading.
Investors in tech stocks were spooked by a collapse on Wall Street fuelled by fears that US Democrats will ramp up regulation of the artificial intelligence industry following their blowout victory in the midterm elections.
Premier Cho Jung-tai said he had told the Financial Supervisory Commission (FSC) to “closely monitor developments in both international and domestic stock markets and to remain flexible in determining how to stabilise the domestic market”.
“Whenever the Financial Supervisory Commission has faced unusually severe stock market volatility in the past, it has always implemented relevant response measures,” Cho told reporters.
Cho added that Taiwan’s economic fundamentals were sound and “the profitability and potential of our various industries remain quite robust”.
The FSC will meet on Friday to decide on measures to stabilise the market, the Commercial Times newspaper reported.
Taiwanese people have piled into the local stock market this year as it has soared to record highs on booming demand for AI technology.
At the close, the Taiex was down 4.5% at 39,690.7.
