The four measures the Cabinet announced late on Thursday night to boost the stock market will not immediately have an impact, but such moves could benefit the bourse in the long term, an economist said yesterday.
"The public expects an immediate effect from the government's policies, but it's healthier to implement measures that can gradually improve the structural problems of the stock market," Ko Chen-en (柯承恩), president of the Chung-hua Institution for Economic Research (CIER, 中經院), told reporters at a press conference yesterday.
The stock market, already under pressure from domestic political turmoil, was struck by a bird flu scare this week.
The benchmark TAIEX fell 230.31 points, or 3.86 percent, this week. The index declined 1.85 percent last week.
The Cabinet held an emergency meeting on Thursday evening, and released a four-point measure for shoring up investor confidence.
These measures include loosening share buyback rules for banks by lowering the required capital adequacy ratio from 150 percent to 120 percent, raising the overseas investment ceiling for insurers if they invest more in the local bourse, lifting limits on bank loans to the flat-panel display industry in a bid to encourage consolidation and lowering taxes on gifts and inheritance.
These measures, however, will only be implemented after related laws and regulations are amended, according to the Cabinet.
While the Cabinet's new measures could help prevent stocks from declining further, prospects for the next several months remained unclear, particularly given the Dec. 3 local government elections.
A Morgan Stanley report released yesterday and titled Rebound Likely, but not Recovery said, "Better third-quarter results and fourth-quarter guidance, particularly in the tech and chemical sectors, could drive a market rebound as valuations look cheap and investors appear to have discounted much of the bad news [concerns over high oil prices, tech demand, slower financial reform, and, oddly, bird flu]."
Morgan said the TAIEX could rebound by approximately 8-10 percent by the end of the year.
purpose: Tesla’s CEO sought to meet senior Chinese officials to discuss the rollout of its ‘full self-driving’ software in China and approval to transfer data they had collected Tesla Inc CEO Elon Musk arrived in Beijing yesterday on an unannounced visit, where he is expected to meet senior officials to discuss the rollout of "full self-driving" (FSD) software and permission to transfer data overseas, according to a person with knowledge of the matter. Chinese state media reported that he met Premier Li Qiang (李強) in Beijing, during which Li told Musk that Tesla's development in China could be regarded as a successful example of US-China economic and trade cooperation. Musk confirmed his meeting with the premier yesterday with a post on social media platform X. "Honored to meet with Premier Li
ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE: The chipmaker last month raised its capital spending by 28 percent for this year to NT$32 billion from a previous estimate of NT$25 billion Contract chipmaker Powerchip Semiconductor Manufacturing Corp (力積電子) yesterday launched a new 12-inch fab, tapping into advanced chip-on-wafer-on-substrate (CoWoS) packaging technology to support rising demand for artificial intelligence (AI) devices. Powerchip is to offer interposers, one of three parts in CoWoS packaging technology, with shipments scheduled for the second half of this year, Powerchip chairman Frank Huang (黃崇仁) told reporters on the sidelines of a fab inauguration ceremony in the Tongluo Science Park (銅鑼科學園區) in Miaoli County yesterday. “We are working with customers to supply CoWoS-related business, utilizing part of this new fab’s capacity,” Huang said, adding that Powerchip intended to bridge
Dutch brewing company Heineken NV on Friday announced an investment of NT$13.5 billion (US$414.62 million) over the next five years in Taiwan. The first multinational brewing company to operate in Taiwan, Heineken made the statement at a ceremony held at its brewery in Pingtung County. It also outlined its efforts to make the brewery “net zero” by 2030. Heineken has been in the Taiwanese market for 20 years, Heineken Taiwan managing director Jeff Wu (吳建甫) said. With strong support from local consumers, the Dutch brewery decided to transition from sales to manufacturing in the country, Wu said. Heineken assumed majority ownership and management rights
Microsoft Corp yesterday said that it would create Thailand’s first data center region to boost cloud and artificial intelligence (AI) infrastructure, promising AI training to more than 100,000 people to develop tech. Bangkok is a key economic player in Southeast Asia, but it has lagged behind Indonesia and Singapore when it comes to the tech industry. Thailand has an “incredible opportunity to build a digital-first, AI-powered future,” Microsoft chairman and chief executive officer Satya Nadella said at an event in Bangkok. Data center regions are physical locations that store computing infrastructure, allowing secure and reliable access to cloud platforms. The global embrace of AI