The nation’s main stock exchange will seek to improve the local capital market by collaborating with its Asian counterparts, a Taiwan Stock Exchange (TWSE, 台灣證券交易所) executive said yesterday.
“Taiwan’s annual capital outflow is estimated at about NT$2 trillion [US$63 billion] annually,” TWSE president Michael Lin (林火燈) said at a press conference after the Asian Exchange Forum in Taipei.
Representatives from 10 Asian countries’ stock exchanges — including Japan, South Korea, China, Vietnam, Indonesia and Singapore — attended the forum, which was organized by the TWSE.
Through closer ties with other stock exchanges, about half of the capital outflow may be funneled through the TWSE to boost local trading volume, Lin said.
This could stimulate local brokering, depositary and clearing businesses, while providing investors with more options in which their interests are safeguarded by regulators, he said.
Lin said that representatives from neighboring stock exchanges all expressed an interest in furthering ties and collaborations with each other, and hope to introduce new products and stock exchange links.
Impressed by Taiwan’s many small and medium-sized technology companies, and their ability to pay out relatively high dividends, Japan and South Korea expressed an interest in possible collaboration opportunities, he said.
In particular, South Korean representatives brought up the possibility of devising a new stock index with Taiwan to tap into the trading potential of the nation’s technology companies, Lin said.
However, he said that a stock market link between the TWSE and the Korea Stock Exchange, and cross-listing of exchange-traded-funds (ETFs) on the two exchanges are not being considered at the moment.
He added that establishing stock exchange links and ETF cross-listings are not easy, as they have to deal with more technical and regulatory issues, in addition to finding market-makers and determining the types of products that will appeal to investors on other exchanges.
Although the Hong Kong-Shanghai stock market link has been operating for six months, preliminary work that went into its establishment took two years, Lin said.
Asked by reporters about his views on the capital gains tax on securities transaction, Lin said the issue did have an effect on the local stock market after first causing a market panic in 1988.
“Taiwanese investors panicked because they were not able to easily verify if the amount of capital gains tax they ought to pay was correct, as the local trading mechanism made it very difficult to calculate one’s gains and losses from trading, and this type of deep uncertainty proved to be catastrophic,” Lin said.
“The goal of the TWSE and the Financial Supervisory Commission is to aid the government in maximizing tax revenues under a system that is feasible and conducive to the nation’s capital market development,” Lin said.
“The equity market is an important facet of a nation’s economic growth, as direct financing is much more efficient than going through the banking system,” he said.
On Thursday, the commission released the results of the Securities and Futures Institute’s survey of major market players, brokerage firms and retail investors.
It showed that heavy tax burdens, difficulty turning a profit and plans to reallocate funds overseas were the top three reasons affecting many major market players’ interest in the local stock market.
As for retail investors, volatility in international markets, increasing misgivings caused by the TAIEX’s continued rise and excessive tax burdens on trading were the main holding them back from the market, the survey showed.
After several years flying high as Asia’s best Nvidia Corp proxy, Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) is increasingly vying with other artificial intelligence (AI) stocks for investor attention. Stock traders are chasing a wider array of beneficiaries as mainstream usage of AI creates demand for hardware beyond the most-advanced chips TSMC makes for Nvidia. Subthemes from the deepening memory crunch to advances in robotics are also luring bids. At the same time, investment caps on single stocks are pushing funds to diversify, while retail investors long familiar with TSMC through its US depositary receipts are being offered a broader set of
UNDER MICROSCOPE: Taiwan detained three people who allegedly conspired to buy servers in Taiwan and export them using fraudulent documentation, prosecutors said Nvidia Corp chief executive officer Jensen Huang (黃仁勳) on Saturday urged Super Micro Computer Inc to tighten up on compliance after Taiwan detained three people this week for allegedly making fraudulent declarations about artificial intelligence (AI) servers made by its US partner. The development marked the nation’s first crackdown on semiconductor smuggling, which grew after the US slapped restrictions on exports of high-end chips such as Nvidia AI accelerators to China. Nvidia is “rigorous” in explaining regulations to all of its partners, Huang told reporters after arriving in Taipei. “Ultimately Super Micro has to run their own company,” he said in response to
TECH RELIANCE: Growth is increasingly reflecting an unequal K-shaped distribution, where technology sectors outperform and other industries struggle, an expert said Standard Chartered Bank has significantly raised its forecast for Taiwan’s economic growth to 9.5 percent this year, up from 7.6 percent previously, citing surging artificial intelligence (AI) demand driving exports, semiconductor production and investment. The upgrade reflects a sustained AI supercycle that continues to fuel demand for advanced chips and technology infrastructure, which form the backbone of Taiwan’s exports, the bank said in a report this week. “We raise our 2026 growth forecast to reflect a much stronger-than-expected first-quarter GDP figure,” Standard Chartered senior economist for greater China and Asia Tommy Wu (胡東安) said in the report. Driven largely by a 35.3 percent
Two of Taiwan’s international carriers, Starlux Airlines Co (星宇航空) and EVA Airways Corp (長榮航空), have retained the five-star airline rating awarded by international airline review organization Skytrax. Starlux was awarded the distinction for a second consecutive year, while EVA Air received it for the 11th straight year, Skytrax said in statements released yesterday and on Thursday last week, respectively. The five-star rating is considered one of the airline industry's highest honors and is awarded following professional audits of airline product and frontline service standards, Skytrax said. The ratings are based on in-depth assessments using unified global quality standards rather than customer review scores
RSS