Taiwanese investor confidence plunged to a historic low this month in response to equity market volatility and the economic downturn, two separate polls released yesterday showed.
The bleak sentiment is unlikely to clear, even though the local stock market launched a modest rebound for the second straight day yesterday.
One survey, jointly conducted by the Chinese-language weekly Business Today (今周刊) and Shih Hsin University, showed the domestic investor sentiment index hit minus 176.53 points this month, the lowest since the poll began in December 2003.
The other survey, released by JF Asset Management Taiwan, said the investor confidence index declined 23.3 percent to 81.8 points in the third quarter, the lowest level since the wealth management provider initiated the poll in July 2004.
Andy Liang (梁永煌), president of Business Today, said the survey result fell in line with stock market performance, as the TAIEX has shed 4,100 points, falling 48.2 percent, so far this year.
“Investors by and large are pessimistic about the economy and the stock market,” Liang told a media briefing. “That explains why the investor sentiment index remained in the negative zone for the third consecutive month.”
The index on the economic outlook for the upcoming six months stood at minus 120.88 points, the magazine survey showed. The poll surveyed 1,068 investors aged 18 and older between Oct. 10 and Oct. 20 by telephone.
Liang said the rising unemployment rate intensified the investors’ bearish sentiment, with many voicing the fear that they would lose their jobs amid the global financial crisis.
Investor confidence in the local bourse slumped to a new low this month, dragged down mainly by bearish views on both the domestic and global economic outlook, the survey released by JF Asset Management Taiwan showed yesterday.
Similarly, the survey by the firm, part of JP Morgan Fleming Asset Management, showed that indexes on economic prospects and investment potential dropped by 20 percent from the second quarter.
The survey, which questioned 1,079 investors aged 20 and older between Oct. 13 and Oct. 19 by telephone, said that approximately 30 percent of the respondents thought the economic downturn would last from one year to two years during which their wealth would be prone to shrink.
Winson Wang (王榮旭), a stock analyst at Marbo Securities Consultant Co, said the world economy may hit bottom in the second quarter of next year and the TAIEX may continue its “rollercoaster ride” before any recovery.
The index gained 6.55 points, or 0.15 percent, to close at 4,406.52 points yesterday on a turnover of NT$79.74 billion (US$2.39 billion), stock exchange data showed.
The TAIEX opened at 4,622.55 an inatra-day high of points, but headed downward shortly of profit-taking, Wang said.
The analyst said local investors’ confidence would remain weak unless Wall Street regains stability.
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