The number of so-called “big investors” — those trading NT$500 million (US$18.11 million) or more in a single quarter — fell to 3,791 last quarter, the second-lowest last year after only 3,178 in the first quarter, data released yesterday by the Taiwan Stock Exchange (TWSE) showed.
The figure represents a quarterly decline of 1,518, or 28.5 percent, from 5,309 in the third quarter of last year, although it was up 57 percent from 2,401 in the fourth quarter of 2020, TWSE data showed.
The number of “mid-sized investors” — those trading NT$100 million to NT$500 million in shares in a single quarter — declined 28 percent from the third quarter to 30,463 last quarter, while the number of regular investors — those trading less than NT$100 million in a quarter — declined 3.6 percent quarter-on-quarter to 4.12 million, TWSE data showed.
Photo: Kelson Wang, Taipei Times
The drop in investors contrasts with a quarterly rise of 9 percent in the benchmark TAIEX at the end of last year, TWSE data showed.
The decline could be attributable to a day-trading cooling mechanism launched by the TWSE in September last year, in which shares with a daily turnover of more than 60 percent would be highlighted, and margin trading of shares with high day-trading activity would be banned.
The ratio of day trading to overall turnover slid from 41.5 percent in September to 40 percent at the end of last month, and the number of day traders also dropped by 900 from the third quarter to 128,090 by the end of last month, TWSE data showed.
Turnover by local retail investors accounted for 65 percent of total turnover last quarter, down from 70 percent in the third quarter, while turnover of foreign institutional investors made up 26 percent, up from 22 percent, the data showed.
Hitting 18,218.84 at the end of last year, the TAIEX yesterday reached 18,535.42 points in the middle of the session before closing up 122.11 points, or 0.66 percent, at 18,525.44, TWSE data showed.
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