Taiwan stocks see record-breaking outflows as markets tumble

More foreign money has flowed out of Taiwan stocks so far in March than in the previous two months combined, stock exchange data showed on Thursday, with much of it pouring out this week amid a global selloff.

Foreign investors sold T$54.6 billion ($1.82 billion) worth of Taiwan stocks on Monday, according to the Taiwan Stock Exchange, the largest single-day outflow since 2008. On Thursday, they sold T$36.8 billion, the seventh-highest daily figure on record.

That brought the monthly total till date to T$176 billion, compared with T$130 billion in February and T$43.6 billion in January.

The flight from Taiwan comes amid a broader exodus from emerging markets as investors pull out of equities to move headlong into safer assets as panic builds over the economic hit from the coronavirus.

A net $9 billion in Asian equities were sold as of March 10, with funds pouring out of Indonesia and India, while foreign selling of Korean stocks was at its highest in almost a decade on Monday.

Taiwan's main stock index lost 4% of its value on Thursday to hit its lowest in more than six months. It has dropped 13.1% so far this year.

Deputy Finance Minister Frank Juan told Reuters the island's National Stabilisation Fund was continuing to monitor financial asset movements with a view to intervening in the stock market if conditions warranted.

($1 = 30.0660 Taiwan dollars)