Intraday Update: Taiwan Stock Market Rebounds After Breaking Below 45,000; 18 Stocks Hit Limit Up! Formosa Chemicals Plunges Nearly 8%, LITE-ON and UMC Surge Against the Trend

Today's Taiwan stock market opened at 45,240.3 points and briefly climbed to its intraday high of 45,320.75 around 9:52 AM. However, selling pressure gradually emerged, causing the index to fluctuate lower and dip as low as 44,916.1, breaking below the psychological 45,000 level. As of approximately 11:53 AM, the weighted index was at 45,020.78, down 203.51 points, or about 0.45%. The overall market showed a volatile consolidation pattern, with divergent performances among individual stocks.

[Performance of Key Weighted Stocks] Looking at major electronic and financial stocks today, most benchmark stocks declined slightly, weighing on the broader market:

- TSMC (2330): 2,395 ▼20 (-0.83%) - Hon Hai (2317): 244 ▼1.5 (-0.61%) - MediaTek (2454): 3,765 ▼25 (-0.66%) - Delta Electronics (2308): 1,740 ▼10 (-0.29%) - Fubon Financial (2881): 132.5 ▼1.5 (-1.49%) - Cathay Financial (2882): 99.2 ▼1.3 (-1.29%)

[Sector Performance] Sector-wise, electronic components and certain small-to-mid cap semiconductor stocks performed strongly today, while traditional industries—particularly the plastics sector—faced heavy selling pressure. The shipping sector remained resilient, trading above the flat line.

On the upside, stocks such as LITE-ON, UMC, and Compal Electronics attracted strong buying interest, with expanding volumes and significant gains:

- LITE-ON (2301): 287 ▲26 (+9.96%) - Compal Electronics (2324): 42.2 ▲3.25 (+7.19%) - UMC (2303): 125.5 ▲8.5 (+6.87%) - King Yuan Electronic (2449): 239.5 ▲8 (+3.45%)

On the downside, the four Formosa Plastics Group stocks all suffered sharp declines today, becoming one of the key drags on the market index:

- Formosa Chemicals & Fibre (6505): 69.7 ▼6.1 (-8.05%) - Nan Ya Plastics (1303): 181.5 ▼10.5 (-5.47%) - Formosa Chemical (1326): 56.9 ▼3.2 (-5.32%) - Formosa Plastics Corp (1301): 56.9 ▼2.6 (-4.21%)

Shipping stocks maintained stability:

- Yang Ming (2609): 64.4 ▲0.5 (+0.94%) - Wan Hai Lines (2615): 126 ▲1.5 (+0.80%) - Evergreen Marine (2603): 251.5 ▼0 (+0.20%)

[Market Highlights and Limit-Up/Down Counts] So far, 18 stocks have hit the daily upper limit (limit-up), while 4 have reached the lower limit (limit-down). Limit-up stocks were mainly concentrated among small-cap electronics and theme-driven stocks; limit-down stocks were scattered across various sectors.

Notable limit-up stocks:

- Elite Semiconductor (3006): 282 ▲25.5 (+9.94%) - Shunde Electric (2351): 201 ▲17.5 (+9.84%) - Chuan-Hu (2059): 14,670 ▲1,235 (+9.23%)

Notable limit-down stocks:

- Molex-KY (3665): 2,050 ▼225 (-9.89%) - Jing Guo (6108): 23.4 ▼2.55 (-9.83%)