Taiex Takes a Plunge as Markets React to Trump Tariffs

TaiwanPlus News

Taiwan's benchmark stock index, the Taiex, plunged nearly 10% on Monday, the worst single-day drop in its history. This is the market's first reaction to U.S. President Donald Trump's 32% tariff on exports, which came just before a long weekend.

Transcript

00:00U.S. President Donald Trump says market volatility is a necessary medicine as Asian stocks plunge

00:06after his tariff announcement last week.

00:09So far, those have hit this region the hardest.

00:11Our reporter Tiffany Wong is at the Taiwan Stock Exchange where the market just closed.

00:15Tiffany, what's the damage look like there?

00:22Taiwan is one of the hardest hit markets in Asia today.

00:26The benchmark index, the TAIX, closing under 20,000 points after a 10 percent drop early

00:32this morning.

00:33That's the biggest single-day drop in the stock market's history.

00:37This is the first market response we've seen to that 32 percent tariff imposed by U.S.

00:42President Donald Trump on exports from Taiwan.

00:46He announced that right before a long four-day weekend in Taiwan.

00:50Traders and tech giants like TSMC and Foxconn also took a plunge of about 10 percent this

00:56morning, also triggering trading restrictions on their stocks.

01:00And about 1,000 other stocks on this exchange also triggered those trading curbs.

01:06Now, Taiwan's government did anticipate these drops coming, and they did try to implement

01:11some measures like massive limits on short-selling, which is when investors sell off their shares

01:17in anticipation that the price will drop.

01:20But Taiwan's financial regulator emphasized that these are temporary measures that should

01:24only last the week.

01:26But just this morning, the Taiwan Stock Exchange Corporation called for an emergency meeting

01:30before the market opened to try and reassure investors that the market will stabilize.

01:50So we can see that the regulators are trying to reassure investors that the market will

02:13stabilize, but based on the trading today, it looks like investors are still jittery

02:18about these tariffs.

02:21And Tiffany, how are other Asian markets doing?

02:23I mean, the entire region has been hit hard by these tariffs.

02:28Well, Asia has been hit the hardest by these tariffs from Trump, and it's a bloodbath in

02:37the markets today.

02:38Shanghai and Hong Kong also opened their exchanges after a long weekend, and Shanghai dropped

02:45over 6 percent, and the Hang Seng Index took over an 11 percent dip during the day.

02:51Japan's Nikkei Index also triggered a circuit breaker early in the morning after dropping

02:568 percent, but has now stabilized to about 6 percent.

02:59Now, all of these governments have been scrambling to implement new measures and try to minimize

03:04the impacts of Trump's tariffs.

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