Taiwan's stock market fell hard on Monday, but a late buying wave rescued chipmaker UMC and softened the day's losses.

• Taiwan's main index dropped as much as 881 points after hawkish comments from the Fed's Christopher Waller, before closing down just 202 points.
• Electronics stocks led the fall, while optical, AI, financial and traditional industry shares pushed back the other way.
• UMC opened low but climbed all day and finished nearly flat, a relief for its million-plus shareholders.
• Local investment funds sold the market overall yet bought UMC heavily, making it their biggest purchase of the day.
• A quarterly MSCI index reshuffle taking effect after the close triggered a burst of buying in the final minutes.

Outlook: Interest rate signals from the Fed will keep driving Taiwan's chip-heavy market in the days ahead.