Taiwan''s stock market followed Wall Street lower on Friday, losing more than 3% to close at 14,343 points. Chipmaker TSMC fell NT$22.5 amid broad weakness in the tech sector. Last month, Taiwan shares posted their worst June performance of all time, amid fears over global inflation and an economic slowdown. On Friday, the head of Taiwan''s stock rescue fund urged traders to stay calm, saying that the market will eventually return to its fundamentals.

CNN anchor
Fifty years. The S&P 500 alone has shed 8 trillion dollars.

U.S. stocks came under heavy pressure on Thursday, with all four major indexes finishing in the red. The S&P 500 closed out its worst first half in more than 50 years. On Friday, Taiwan stocks followed Wall Street’s dip. TSMC lost nearly 5% to end at NT$453.5, while electronics, traditional industries, and finance stocks all fell hard. The market fell 3.26% to close below 14,400 points on turnover of NT$300 billion. In the past two days alone, the Taiex has lost 900 points and there’s still no relief in sight.

Lin Han-wei
Financial analyst
This year’s forecast was adjusted to a low of 13,000 points. Recently the Taiex has been losing 300, 400, 200 points a session. So the idea is that, within the next five to 10 days, it will drop to 13,000 points. But I wouldn’t say that’s a reasonable projection. No matter how weak the market is, it won’t drop every day. Once the panic selling winds down, we will start to see signs of a rebound as the market finds its footing.

Traders are still searching for the bottom of the market selloff. Last month, Taiwan stocks posted their worst June performance, with losses averaging out to nearly NT$500,000 per investor. Speaking to the media on Friday, the head of Taiwan’s stock rescue fund said that the market drop was, quote, “an overreaction” driven by panic. As the bourse heads into the second half of the year, traders are bracing for more pain ahead.