Taiwan Stock Market: MSCI Effect Spurs Late Surge, Closing Drop Narrowed to 202 Points; Held Above 46,000, August Gains 3,008 Points

Hawkish remarks from U.S. Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell reignited interest rate hike concerns, dragging down Taiwan's stock market by as much as 881 points to a low of 45,450.21 on Wednesday (31st). However, intraday support from the petrochemical and optical sectors, combined with the post-market effectiveness of MSCI index adjustments, triggered a late surge with a massive 306.4 billion TWD trading volume in the final session, narrowing the decline by 149 points. The market closed down 202.98 points (0.44%) at 46,128.48, successfully holding above the 5-day moving average and the 46,000 level. August ended with a strong gain of 3,008.72 points (6.98%), closing with a bullish monthly candle, and trading volume expanded to 1.2 trillion TWD.

Major electronics and heavyweight stocks showed weak performance today. TSMC (2330-TW) fell 15 TWD (0.62%) to close at 2,405 TWD, while Hon Hai (2317-TW) and MediaTek (2454-TW) both declined over 1%. Advanced Semiconductor Engineering (3711-TW) suffered heavy losses, falling more than half of the daily limit, and United Microelectronics (2303-TW) also dipped 0.77%. Conversely, Quanta Computer (2382-TW) rose over 1%, and Delta Electronics (2308-TW) edged up 0.55%.

Escalating U.S.-Iran tensions pushed international oil prices higher, with Brent crude reclaiming the $90 mark, boosting the petrochemical sector. All four 'Plastics Four' stocks of the Formosa Plastics Group closed in positive territory: Formosa Chemicals & Fibre (1326-TW) and Nan Ya Plastics (1303-TW) hit their daily trading limits, Formosa Plastics (1301-TW) rose over half the limit, and Formosa Petrochemical (6505-TW) gained over 2%. Additionally, Kuo Chiao (1312-TW) surged to its daily limit.

The optical sector continued to shine, driven by Apple's (AAPL-US) new product cycle and CPO (Co-Packaged Optics) technology themes. Led by Largan Precision (3008-TW), which rose over half the daily limit, Genius Electronic (3406-TW) hit its limit at 1,005 TWD, joining the elite 'thousand-dollar stock' club. Largan Opto (3441-TW) gained over 4%, while Sunny Optical (6209-TW) and Asia Optical (3019-TW) both rose over 3%.

Meanwhile, Unimicron (3037-TW) plunged to its daily limit at 999 TWD after reports of 'country-of-origin falsification' sparked market panic, knocking it out of the thousand-dollar stock category and dragging down the ABF substrate sector. ChipMOS (3189-TW) also fell over half the limit, and Nanya PCB (80496-TW) dipped 0.81%. However, other PCB stocks moved逆势 upward: Zhen Ding-KY (4958-TW) rose over 4%, while Goldtek (2368-TW) and Walsin Technology (2313-TW) gained over 3%.