Taipei - Taiwan stocks slumped 4.5 per cent Tuesday to hit their lowest level in 52 weeks, weighed down by Wall Street's overnight fall and the local financial sector's exposure to troubled US mortgage firms, dealers said. 

The Weighted Price Index of the Taiwan Stock Exchange, which opened sharply lower, plunged 322.72 points, or 4.5 per cent, to close at 6,834.24, compared with the previous day's trade. 

Dealers said jittery selling started immediately after the market opened, with financials suffering a deep fall on reports that some Taiwanese financial companies have exposure of about 500 billion Taiwan dollars (16.4 billion US) to instruments issued by US mortgage financiers Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, which reported steep declines in values last week. 

All eight major sectors plunged, with construction losing 6.5 per cent to become the biggest loser of the day, followed by financials' 5.8 per cent, cement's 5.1 per cent and petrochemicals' 5.1 per cent. (dpa)