Taiwanese shares rallied after authorities unveiled measures to restore investor confidence following the longest selling streak since 2022 amid a global AI stock rout.
The island’s benchmark Taiex Index rose as much as 6.4% on Monday, the most since July 31 and ending a seven-session decline that pushed the technology-heavy market into bear territory. Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. and MediaTek Inc. led the gains, rising at least 6% each.
The rebound came after Taiwan’s market regulator and finance ministry both pledged to take steps to calm investor nerves, including imposing curbs on short selling from Monday, and readiness to deploy the NT$500 billion ($15.2 billion) stock stabilization fund. Also lifting investor mood was wider strength in Asian equities on Monday, despite concerns over an investigation into Nvidia Corp.’s chief executive officer Jensen Huang.
The market’s strong open clearly suggests the stabilization measures “are overpowering any impact from the Jensen Huang development that many investors may see as a sideshow on the semiconductor sector’s long-term trajectory,” said Homin Lee, senior macro strategist at Lombard Odier in Singapore.
The Financial Supervisory Commission said after Friday’s market close that it will cap the volume of intraday short-sale orders for borrowed securities at 3% of a stock’s average daily trading volume over the preceding 30 days. That’s reduced from 30% previously. The financial regulator will also raise the minimum margin requirement for short-selling activities to 130% from 90%.