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Taiwan stocks slump 8.4%, worst one-day percentage fall

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Taiwan stocks at lowest level since April 23

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TSMC stocks drop 9.75%

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Taiwan Stock Exchange media conference at 0700 GMT

(Adds closing prices, details throughout, upcoming Taiwan Stock

Exchange media conference in paragraph 6)

By Faith Hung and James Pomfret

TAIPEI, Aug 5 (Reuters) - Taiwan stocks ended

down 8.4% on Monday, a record slump, with tech stocks including

TSMC plunging as investors sold off one of Asia's top

performing markets this year, spooked by a poor outlook for

global tech stocks and the U.S. economy.

The main index shed 1,807.21 points, its worst one-day

percentage fall, to close at 19,830.88, the lowest level since

April 23. The decline was fuelled by a sell-off in tech, and

then spread more broadly as the index dipped below the key

20,000 level.

"It is difficult to predict when the decline will stop. It's

too early to tell," said David Wu, an analyst with Cathay

Futures Consulting Department in Taipei.

Taiwan was one of several markets that tumbled across Asia

on Monday amid fears the United States could be heading for

recession and as investors sought refuge from risk assets.

Concerns about a widening conflict in the Middle East also

weighed on sentiment.

The Taiwan Stock Exchange will hold a media conference to

"explain recent market movements and contingency response plans"

at 3 p.m. (0700 GMT), the exchange said in brief statement. No

further details were given.

A two-day rout late last week left the S&P 500 nearly

6% from its July peak while the tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite

extended losses to notch its first 10% correction from a

record high since early 2022.

"We think the decline will continue into the next two days,

seeking technical support levels of 19,200-19,300 points," Allen

Huang, a vice president of Mega International Investment

Services, Huang told Reuters.

Shares in the dominant technology stock Taiwan Semiconductor

Manufacturing ( TSM ) , the world's largest contract

chipmaker, took a battering. The stock had surged over the past

year amid skyrocketing demand for chips used in artificial

intelligence, but its price plunged 9.75%, near the daily limit

of 10%, to close at T$815.

"The fundamentals for TSMC have not changed at all. Yes,

there was market talk last week that delivery of Nvidia's ( NVDA ) new GB

200 chips would be delayed, and Intel's earnings results were

terrible. But TSMC and the upstream AI supply chain would not be

affected by those events," Huang added.

Taiwan's Minister of Economic Affairs JK Guo, said investors

needed to brace for more possible pain. "Everyone must be

prepared for a global stock market crash, this is part of the

business cycle," Guo told reporters.