Two exchange-traded funds (ETFs) tracking 30 blue-chip stocks were on Friday traded heavily on their first day on the market, indicating growing interest in the investment vehicle, the Taiwan Stock Exchange (TWSE) said.
More than 10 million units of both the Mega Taiwan Blue Chip 30 ETF and the Mega Taiwan Blue Chip 30 Daily Inverse ETF issued by Mega International Investment Trust Co (兆豐國際投信) were traded in just the first hour after the market opened at 9am on Friday, the TWSE said.
By the end of the trading session at 1:30pm, 28.9 million units of the Mega Taiwan Blue Chip 30 ETF and 17.58 million units of the Mega Taiwan Blue Chip 30 Daily Inverse ETF had been traded, it added.
The two ETFs track two indices compiled and maintained by TWSE fully owned subsidiary Taiwan Index Plus Corp (TIP, 台灣指數) and are comprised of 30 heavyweights on the local market, the TWSE said.
The 30 blue-chip stocks come from a wide range of sectors, including the bellwether electronics sector and the old-economy sector, it added.
The Mega Taiwan Blue Chip 30 ETF, which tracks and bets on gains in the TIP TAIEX+ Blue Chip 30 Index, closed unchanged at NT$19.91, while the Mega Taiwan Blue Chip 30 Daily Inverse ETF, which tracks the TIP TAIEX+ Blue Chip 30 Index Daily Return Inverse -1X Index and bets on the main index going down, fell 0.40 percent to end at NT$19.94.
Contract chipmaker Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (台積電) accounts for more than 21 percent of the main index, ahead of telecommunications provider Chunghwa Telecom Co (中華電信) at 8.15 percent and smartphone camera lens supplier Largan Precision Co (大立光) with a 6.54 percent share as of Friday.
Fubon Financial Holding Co (富邦金控), Cathay Financial Holding Co (國泰金控) and shoemaker Pou Chen Corp (寶成工業) are also included in the main index.
The TIP TAIEX+ Blue Chip 30 Index has been compiled by taking into account whether a stock is liquid, the size of its market capitalization and the strength of the company’s operations, as well as bottom line and dividend payout, the TWSE said.
The two ETFs are the first issued on the local stock market by Mega International Investment Trust, a subsidiary of Mega Financial Holding Co (兆豐金控).
With the listing of the new funds, the number of ETFs traded on the local market rose to 74, up from 62 at the end of last year, the TWSE said.
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