The average daily turnover of local equity markets during the first five months of the year declined 13.3 percent from a year earlier, as major market players stayed on the sidelines, the Financial Supervisory Commission (FSC) said yesterday.
Concerns about the US-China trade dispute have harmed investors’ sentiment, causing the average daily turnover to drop to NT$151.85 billion (US$4.83 billion) over that period, the commission said.
The average daily turnover of the Taiwan Stock Exchange (TWSE) fell 14.98 percent annually to NT$115.4 billion, while the Taipei Exchange dove 7.51 percent to NT$36.3 billion, it said.
FSC Chairman Wellington Koo (顧立雄) in January said that he expected this year’s average daily turnover would be close to last year’s NT$165.33 billion.
In April, the TWSE said that only 784 large traders, who trade shares at or more than NT$500 million a quarter, had participated in the main board in the first quarter of the year, down from 1,135 a year earlier and falling below 1,000 for the first time in seven quarters.
“Large traders held back from the trading floor for many reasons, but I think the volatility on global stock markets and uncertainty due to the trade war might have discouraged them the most,” TWSE spokeswoman Rebecca Chen (陳麗卿) said by telephone.
Chen said the declining number reflected investors’ cautious attitude when the market was in a state of chaos.
Other markets in Asia also faced setback in the January-to-May period from the trade tensions, with Japan decreasing 17.68 percent, Hong Kong falling 22.38 percent and South Korea dropping 28.83 percent, Securities and Futures Bureau Deputy Director-General Tsai Li-ling (蔡麗玲) said, adding that Taiwan’s drop was comparatively moderate.
However, Shanghai advanced 30 percent, which Tsai attributed to the effect of a low comparison base last year.
The TAIEX yesterday ended down 52.42 points, or 0.5 percent, at 10,409.2 on turnover of NT$97.899 billion. So far this week, the index has dropped 0.85 percent, with average daily turnover of NT$96.245 billion, TWSE data showed.
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