More “big investors” flooded into the local stock market last quarter, when the TAIEX steadily rose to above 16,000 points, data compiled by the Taiwan Stock Exchange (TWSE) showed.
The number of big investors — those trading NT$500 million (US$17.6 million) or more in a single quarter — totaled 3,178 in the first quarter, up 32 percent from 2,401 in the fourth quarter of last year and surpassing 3,000 for the first time, the data showed.
In the first three months of this year, the number of mid-sized investors — those trading NT$100 million to NT$500 million in shares in a single quarter — surged 30 percent quarter-on-quarter to 26,834, the data showed.
Photo: CNA
The number of retail investors — those trading less than NT$100 million in a quarter — increased 15 percent quarter-on-quarter to 3.89 million, the highest of any first quarter, suggesting that one in every six Taiwanese invest in local shares, the data showed.
With more investors flocking to the nation’s main bourse, last quarter’s turnover advanced 116 percent to NT$18.11 trillion from NT$8.37 trillion last year.
The figure was higher than the total turnover for 2016, or NT$16.77 trillion, the data showed.
A TWSE official attributed the increases in big, mid-sized and retail investors to the astronomical rise of the TAIEX, which has caught the attention of investors worldwide.
The benchmark index rose from 14,902 points to 16,431 in the first three months, TWSE data showed, explaining why 439,000 trading accounts were opened in the first quarter.
Hitting 16,431 by the end of the first quarter, the TAIEX yesterday reached 17,041.37 points in the middle of trading session before closing down 0.21 percent at 16,824.91, the data showed.
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