Daily turnover on the local stock market will likely rise to an average of NT$100 billion this year, from NT$82 billion in 2003, Sean Chen (
"There will be 50 new companies listing on the Taiwan Stock Exchange (TAIEX) in the coming years," Chen told a year-end press conference yesterday, adding that the number of listed companies on the TAIEX will total 720 in 2004.
Chen was bullish about the benchmark's future performance, saying that institutional investors have shown great interest in local shares, aggressively buying during the past year.
According to Chen, stock sales by institutional investors amounted to 23.45 percent of the local benchmark's total turnover last year -- a jump from 16.33 percent from 2002.
Among them, foreign institutional investors amounted to 9.19 percent last year, up from 6.6 percent in 2002.
In addition to foreign investments, Chen said that he expected a solid economy recovery to bolster the TAIEX, since most research bodies estimated this year's economic growth to reach as high as 5 percent.
The stock exchange chairman also vowed to upgrade the TAIEX to become a "developed market" in 2005 in accordance with the top-tier level of international transparency principles.
Speaking at the same press conference, TSEC president Fortune Ju (
Following the corporation's launch of exchange-traded funds (ETF) in June, Ju said that TSEC is slated to launch the fund's call warrants in coming months.
ETFs track an index, but can be traded like a stock. Each share of the current versions of ETFs tracks a basket of stocks in some index or benchmark, providing investors with a vehicle that closely parallels the performance of these benchmarks while allowing for intra-day trading.
A call warrant gives the holder the right to buy the underlying share for an agreed price, on or before a specified date. A warrant is similar to an option, the main difference is that warrants are issued by a company attempting to raise capital.
Separately, the Ministry of Finance yesterday announced new measures that would allow the nation's securities houses, from January, to manage investment-bank businesses.
According to Ding Kung-hwa (
To further diversify the securities sector's business scope, Ding said that some of the nation's more than 50 securities firms that have been in operation over three years with a capital exceeding NT$3 billion will be allowed to tap into international markets by setting up overseas branches.
"As of September, more than 10 securities firms are qualified to benefit from the relaxation on branches," Ding told a press conference yesterday afternoon.
Re-investments made by future overseas branches, however, will be restricted to 20 percent of the parent securities houses' capital, Ding added.
Other than business scope, the nation's brokerage trading system is also being revised to curtail the trading length to as short as within 11 trading days for pricing inquiries and to within three days before listing, he added.
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