Securities traders optimistic after poll

Following Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) presidential candidate Ma Ying-jeou's (馬英九) election victory on Saturday, securities traders expressed optimism that the benchmark TAIEX could be in for a major rally in the coming days and weeks.

Taishin Investment Trust Co (台新投信) president Charles Shen (沈文成) said that although the local bourse's benchmark index rose 4.5 percent last week, the rally was not as big as it could have been, as many investors took a wait-and-see attitude toward the presidential poll.

Now that the election is over, with the extent of the KMT victory exceeding most observers' expectations, the stock market could rise substantially in the short term as investors pour their money into the local bourse, he said.

Huang Hsiao-yun (黃筱雲), manager of National Investment Trust Co's (建弘投信) Global Taiwan Enterprise Fund, said that investors who were waiting for the election results would jump into the local stock market today.

Shen said the TAIEX index had room to rise by between 600 and 800 points in the short term, but he said the rally would subside by the end of next month.

Taiwan International Investment Management Co (金鼎投信) president Chang Ping-chao (張平沼) said that if the transfer of power between the parties was completed smoothly in May, the benchmark weighted index could break the 10,000 mark.