The Financial Supervisory Commission (FSC) yesterday announced three market-boosting measures — including allowing day trading — to give investors and proprietary traders more flexibility in making stock investments.
FSC Chairman William Tseng (曾銘宗) made the announcement after the TAIEX closed up 0.62 percent at 8,088.37 yesterday on turnover of NT$80 billion (US$2.67 billion).
“The commission will introduce three measures to help boost the market and provide investors with more risk diversification tools,” Tseng said.
The commission will allow day trading — buying and selling stocks within the same trading day — of the 200 stocks targeted by major exchange traded funds, he said.
The proposed easing may go into effect on Jan. 6 after related agencies and securities houses have adjusted their computer trading systems, the commission said.
It will consider further easing of day trading limits if the initial opening proves to be harmless, said Tseng, a former deputy minister of finance who oversaw the state-owned National Stabilization Fund (國安基金).
Securities companies may require day traders to pose bail funds and set the amount as they see fit to strengthen risk control, the commission said.
The TAIEX has rallied 3.4 percent in the past week, but trading volume has remained sluggish at less than NT$100 billion since July 23, as plans by the US Federal Reserve to wind down quantitative easing has weakened risk appetite.
The commission also plans to lift the short-selling ban on all listed stocks traded on margin even when they lose value, the commission said. At present, investors can only conduct margin trading on 150 stocks.
The deregulation, scheduled to take effect on Sept. 23, will not apply to stocks that closed down by the daily 7 percent limit in the previous session, it said.
In addition, proprietary dealers will be given a six-month respite to trade securities that close up or down by their daily limit to give them more flexibility, the commission said. The respite will start on Monday and last through March 8 next year.
The Taiwan Securities Association (證券公會) welcomed the measures, saying that they may help boost the market’s trading volume by 10 percent. Currently, only 30 to 35 percent of investors engage in margin trading, meaning up to 70 percent are barred from or have no need for the strategy, the association said.
The government is aiming to recruit 1,096 foreign English teachers and teaching assistants this year, the Ministry of Education said yesterday. The foreign teachers would work closely with elementary and junior-high instructors to create and teach courses, ministry official Tsai Yi-ching (蔡宜靜) said. Together, they would create an immersive language environment, helping to motivate students while enhancing the skills of local teachers, she said. The ministry has since 2021 been recruiting foreign teachers through the Taiwan Foreign English Teacher Program, which offers placement, salary, housing and other benefits to eligible foreign teachers. Two centers serving northern and southern Taiwan assist in recruiting and training
WIDE NET: Health officials said they are considering all possibilities, such as bongkrekic acid, while the city mayor said they have not ruled out the possibility of a malicious act of poisoning Two people who dined at a restaurant in Taipei’s Far Eastern Department Store Xinyi A13 last week have died, while four are in intensive care, the Taipei Department of Health said yesterday. All of the outlets of Malaysian vegetarian restaurant franchise Polam Kopitiam have been ordered to close pending an investigation after 11 people became ill due to suspected food poisoning, city officials told a news conference in Taipei. The first fatality, a 39-year-old man who ate at the restaurant on Friday last week, died of kidney failure two days later at the city’s Mackay Memorial Hospital. A 66-year-old man who dined
‘CARRIER KILLERS’: The Tuo Chiang-class corvettes’ stealth capability means they have a radar cross-section as small as the size of a fishing boat, an analyst said President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) yesterday presided over a ceremony at Yilan County’s Suao Harbor (蘇澳港), where the navy took delivery of two indigenous Tuo Chiang-class corvettes. The corvettes, An Chiang (安江) and Wan Chiang (萬江), along with the introduction of the coast guard’s third and fourth 4,000-tonne cutters earlier this month, are a testament to Taiwan’s shipbuilding capability and signify the nation’s resolve to defend democracy and freedom, Tsai said. The vessels are also the last two of six Tuo Chiang-class corvettes ordered from Lungteh Shipbuilding Co (龍德造船) by the navy, Tsai said. The first Tuo Chiang-class vessel delivered was Ta Chiang (塔江)
EYE ON STRAIT: The US spending bill ‘doubles security cooperation funding for Taiwan,’ while also seeking to counter the influence of China US President Joe Biden on Saturday signed into law a US$1.2 trillion spending package that includes US$300 million in foreign military financing to Taiwan, as well as funding for Taipei-Washington cooperative projects. The US Congress early on Saturday overwhelmingly passed the Further Consolidated Appropriations Act 2024 to avoid a partial shutdown and fund the government through September for a fiscal year that began six months ago. Under the package, the Defense Appropriations Act would provide a US$27 billion increase from the previous fiscal year to fund “critical national defense efforts, including countering the PRC [People’s Republic of China],” according to a summary