The National Stabilization Fund’s (NSF, 國安基金) steering committee yesterday authorized its investment team to dispose of its local share holdings at its discretion, effective immediately, the committee said in a statement yesterday.
Starting on Monday, the team will be able to sell or buy shares from the local bourse at will over the next three months.
“The team can buy or sell shares at its discretion,” Deputy Minister of Finance Tseng Ming-chung (曾銘宗), told the Bloomberg.
Tseng heads the team of officials from the Ministry of Finance and other agencies, including the National Treasury Agency and Bank of Taiwan (台灣銀行).
The committee yesterday discussed when to dispose of its local share holdings, whether a market-exit mechanism should be established and restrictions on the stock operations.
The fund’s steering committee used to decide on buying or selling shares on a quarterly basis.
When the nation was hit by the global financial tsunami in late 2008, the fund entered the Taiwan Stock Exchange and bought shares worth nearly NT$60 billion (US$1.9 billion) between Sept. 18 and Dec. 17 that year in an attempt to bolster the ailing equities market.
Because of rising share prices, the fund had an unrealized profit of approximately NT$36.2 billion as of the end of last year, the statement said.
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