The number of local stock investors last month declined for the third consecutive month to 2.94 million, attributable to a plunge in local stock prices and uncertainty over the US’ monetary policy, Taiwan Stock Exchange data showed.
The number of investors peaked at 3.86 million in May, but fell to 3.34 million in June following a local outbreak of COVID-19, the data showed.
In July, the number rebounded slightly to 3.78 million before dipping again in August, it showed.
With fewer investors, stock market turnover has more than halved from NT$12.38 trillion (US$444.75 billion) in July to NT$5.9 trillion last month, the data showed.
As the US Federal Reserve might update its monetary policy, investors have started acting more conservatively on the local stock market, which is susceptible to the volatility of the US financial market, a stock exchange official said.
The Fed last month said that it would begin tapering its asset purchases later this month.
Some investors might have held back due to the plunge in the TAIEX in the middle of last month, the official added.
However, trading in the most active securities in terms of volume and value last month did not vary significantly compared with July, as among the list of the top 10 most active securities, five were the same as in July, the data showed.
TOP PERFORMERS
They were Yang Ming Marine Transport Corp (陽明海運), Evergreen Marine Corp (長榮海運), Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電), Wan Hai Lines Ltd (萬海航運) and United Microelectronics Corp (UMC, 聯電), it showed.
Combined turnover of shares of the three sea shippers totaled NT$843 billion last month, accounting for 14.31 percent of all turnover, significantly lower than their combined turnover of NT$3.81 trillion in July, which made up 30 percent of overall turnover, the data showed.
On the contrary, turnover of TSMC and UMC shares declined less significantly, losing 22 percent from July to NT$286 billion last month and 18 percent to NT$191 billion respectively, the data showed.
Last month, about 29 percent of investors were aged 61 or older, followed by 20 percent in the 41-to-50 age bracket, 19 percent in the 50-to-60 bracket, and 16.7 percent in the 31-to-40 bracket, the data showed.
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