Taiwan's TAIEX plunged nearly 1,000 points at the Aug. 19 open to 44,308.71 before closing down 589.33 points, or 1.3%, at 44,719.35, below 45,000 and its quarterly moving-average support. The decline followed the previous day's 548.59-point drop to 45,308.68 and a sharp global technology selloff, including a 4.98% fall in the Philadelphia Semiconductor Index, as Middle East tensions, higher oil prices, inflation concerns, U.S. Treasury yields, AI-infrastructure borrowing and uncertainty over Federal Reserve policy pressured high-valuation technology shares. Combined institutional net selling reached NT$70.85 billion, while defensive high-dividend ETFs led Taiwan equity ETF gainers: FT Taiwan Sustainable High Dividend (00961.TW) rose 0.38% on Aug. 19 and 3.24% from the start of the second half, compared with a 3.05% TAIEX decline over that period. Taiwan's DGBAS nevertheless raised its 2026 growth forecast to 11.05%, the highest in nearly 39 years.