TAIEX falls to No. 7 in the world in market cap

UPS AND DOWNS: The electronics component industry fell 21.6 percent on the local main board, while biotechnology emerged as a safe haven, posting a 1.03 percent increase

Following a sharp sell-off of Taiwanese shares, the local board fell to seventh place globally in terms of market capitalization as of Saturday morning, real-time data compiled by MarketCapWatch showed.

Taiwan’s stock-market capitalization stood at US$4.36 trillion, making it the world’s seventh-largest market, down from its peak ranking of fourth, the data showed.

The US ranked first globally, with a market capitalization of US$78.43 trillion, followed by China at US$19.48 trillion, Japan at US$7.81 trillion, India at US$5.1 trillion, the UK at US$4.7 trillion and Canada at US$4.38 trillion.

The Taiwan Stock Market logo inside the Taiwan Stock Exchange office in Taipei is pictured on Friday.

Photo: Ritchie B. Tongo, EPA

Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (台積電), the world’s largest contract chipmaker, ranked seventh among the world’s largest listed companies, with a market capitalization of US$1.79 trillion based on the trading price of its American depositary receipts, MarketCapWatch said.

The TAIEX on Friday plunged 1,873.08 points, or 4.51 percent, to close below the 40,000-point mark at 39,701.64, following heavy losses on Wall Street a day earlier.

For the week, the benchmark index shed 5,510.19 points, or 12.19 percent, from the previous week, while the total market capitalization of the local main board fell by NT$17.94 trillion (US$547.5 billion) to NT$130.08 trillion, the Taiwan Stock Exchange said.

The non-electronics sector index fell by 2,113.67 points, or 7.84 percent, during the week.

Before Friday’s plunge, market sentiment had already been dampened by concerns that major cloud service providers might fail to generate sufficient returns on their massive investments in artificial intelligence (AI) infrastructure, stock-market analysts said.

During the week, the electronics component industry, which is closely linked to AI development, suffered the steepest decline among the major industries listed on the local main board, falling 21.6 percent, while the biotechnology industry emerged as a safe haven, posting the largest gain at 1.03 percent, the exchange said.

Turnover in listed shares on the main board totaled NT$4.47 trillion last week, with the semiconductor industry generating the largest amount at NT$1.82 trillion, followed by the electronics component industry at NT$1.08 trillion and the computer and peripheral equipment industry at NT$275.86 billion, it said.

Since the beginning of this year, aggregate turnover on the local main board has reached NT$203.14 trillion, with the average daily turnover standing at about NT$1 trillion, the exchange said.