At the close, the Taiex was down 4.5% at 39,690.7. (EPA Images pic)TAIPEI: Taiwan ordered the financial regulator on Friday to "stabilise" the stock market, as the island's tech-heavy index was caught up in a massive sell-off hitting global markets.
Shares in Taiwanese chipmaking giant TSMC plummeted as much as 9.8%, dragging the Taiex as much as 9% lower during trading.
Investors in tech stocks were spooked by a collapse on Wall Street fuelled by fears that US Democrats will ramp up regulation of the artificial intelligence industry following their blowout victory in the midterm elections.
Premier Cho Jung-tai said he had told the Financial Supervisory Commission (FSC) to "closely monitor developments in both international and domestic stock markets and to remain flexible in determining how to stabilise the domestic market".
