Taiwan Stock Market Opens: U.S. New Tariffs Take Effect on the 24th, Causing Over 800-Point Drop, Testing 44,000 and Quarterly Line

U.S. President Trump's new tariffs took effect on Friday (24th) Eastern Time. Combined with all four major U.S. stock indices closing in the red, Taiwan's stock market opened sharply lower on the 24th at 44,769.39 points, plunging as much as 874 points to 43,976.39 points, entering a battle to defend the 44,000-point level and retesting the quarterly line at approximately 43,977 points. Trading volume is estimated at 690 billion NT dollars.

The United States announced a new round of tariff policies, imposing 10% to 12.5% tariffs on imported goods from most major trading partners. Taiwan's tariff rate has also been set. As Taiwan has been recognized for taking relevant actions, it will be subject to a 10% tariff. Despite this relatively low rate, Taiwan's stock market still declined today.

Most large-cap electronics stocks fell today. TSMC (2330-TW) opened down 55 NT dollars, more than 2%. Hon Hai (2317-TW), Delta Electronics (2308-TW), and Quanta Computer (2382-TW) all dropped over 1%. United Microelectronics (2303-TW) and ASE Technology (3711-TW) fell over 2%. Only MediaTek (2454-TW) rose over 2%, standing alone against the downtrend.

The PCB sector also faced broad losses today, with the three ABF substrate heavyweights suffering heavy declines. Nanya Technology (8046-TW) dropped more than half a stop, Kinsus (3189-TW) fell over 4%, and Unimicron (3037-TW) declined over 1%. Additionally, Lamtex (6213-TW) dropped over 4%, TSCA Holding (3715-TW) over 2%, and Taiwan Glass (2383-TW), Tact (6274-TW), and Zhen Ding-KY (4958-TW) all fell over 1%.

Among contract manufacturers, although Quanta weakened, Wistron (3231-TW) rose over 3%, driving Wistron Cloud (6669-TW) also up over 3%, while Inventec (2356-TW), Pegatron (4938-TW), and Compal Electronics (2324-TW) also gained.

All four major U.S. indices closed lower. The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 506.93 points, or 0.97%, closing at 51,711.65. The Nasdaq Composite dropped 553.21 points, or 2.15%, closing at 25,137.69. The S&P 500 fell 90.66 points, or 1.21%, closing at 7,408.30. The Philadelphia Semiconductor Index declined 66.83 points, or 0.54%, closing at 12,343.84.