Taiwan's stock market took a heavy hit, with foreign investors dumping shares at the third-fastest pace ever recorded — bad news for anyone riding the market's record run.

• The main index fell 960 points and slipped back below 49,000, after being down more than 1,000 points early in the day.
• Foreign investors sold off a huge amount of Taiwanese stock in a single day, and trading desks added to the pressure with their own selling.
• Local fund houses were the only buyers trying to prop the market up, but they were far too small to stop the slide.
• Chip and silicon wafer makers led the losses as semiconductor inventory piles up, with GlobalWafers hitting its daily drop limit.
• TSMC also fell, even though its September sales hit a record on strong AI demand and brokers have been raising their price targets.

Outlook: TSMC reports quarterly results on October 15, and its outlook for the rest of the year will likely decide whether this is a brief shakeout or the start of a deeper pullback.