Taiwan shares lose 960 points and close below 49,000
Taiwan’s benchmark share index closed at 48,341.31 on October 13, down 960.65 points, as large technology shares came under pressure. Foreign investors sold heavily, while local investment trusts were net buyers. The drop put the index below 49,000, and the divergence in institutional flows showed that the selloff did not draw every group to the same side of the market.
Economics & Markets··Evening
A steep finish below 49,000
Taiwan’s benchmark stock index ended October 13 at 48,341.31, down 960.65 points. The close put it below the 49,000-point threshold after an intraday drop of more than 1,200 points. Foreign investors were large net sellers, giving the day a pronounced cross-border flow as well as a broad index decline. The closing figure and the foreign-selling pattern appear in both accounts of the session.[1], [2]
Foreign investors sold about NT$165.34 billion of shares on the day. That was described as the third-largest foreign net sale on record. The total net sale by three major institutional groups reached roughly NT$198.45 billion. These are currency amounts and measure net share transactions during one trading day, rather than a change in the market’s total value.[1], [2]
Technology shares bear much of the pressure
Technology shares weakened while financial, plastics and shipping shares rose. Taiwan’s Central News Agency described a market split in which technology selling weighed on the broad index even as other sectors attracted buyers. The contrast matters because the benchmark’s lower close did not mean every listed business lost value. Large technology companies carried more weight in the index than many smaller or less represented sectors.[2]
Trading value exceeded NT$1 trillion during the session. The sharp intraday slide narrowed before the close, yet the rebound was too small to take the benchmark back above 49,000. The result left investors with a lower index level and an unusually large foreign net sale on the same day. Both measures matter because an index close and a flow statistic describe different aspects of the market rather than interchangeable losses.[1], [2]
Institutions take different sides
Local investment trusts bought a net NT$23.87 billion even as foreign investors sold. Dealers’ proprietary and hedging trades together added about NT$56.98 billion of net sales, according to the exchange breakdown. This split keeps the heavy foreign exit from being mistaken for unanimous institutional selling. It also explains why the aggregate net figure is larger than the foreign component alone: the groups contributed differently to the final balance.[1], [2]
The technology-heavy market thus finished lower despite some buying outside the foreign-investor group. Taiwan’s closing level, the depth of the intraday fall, and the institutional breakdown all belong to the same October 13 trading session. They describe how selling in a narrow set of large shares moved the benchmark while other investors took the opposite side of some trades. The next session will begin from the lower close, with no outcome implied by this snapshot.[1], [2]
