Taiwan has no plans to implement a blanket ban on short-selling for the time being, but it would not rule out taking action in the future, Financial Supervisory Commission (FSC) Chairman Thomas Huang (黃天牧) told a meeting of the legislature’s Finance Committee yesterday.
A short-selling ban on stocks that fell 3.5 percent or more in the previous trading session took effect on Monday — unlike previous bans in 1998, 2008 and 2015, which applied to all stocks.
The commission considers factors such as global market movements, geopolitical tensions and inflationary pressure when making decisions on restricting short-selling, Huang said.
Photo: CNA
“Previously, the 2008 global financial crisis prompted the commission to ban short-selling of all stocks. However, we are facing a different situation this time,” he said.
“We still have other tools” to stabilize the local market, Huang said.
Despite solid fundamentals, Taiwanese equities have fluctuated in recent sessions, affected by central banks’ interest rate hikes, a global market rout, soaring inflation and Washington’s chip regulations, he said.
The latest short-selling ban applied to 152 local stocks on Monday and 93 stocks on Tuesday, including several large-cap stocks such as Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) and MediaTek Inc (聯發科).
Yesterday, TSMC shares advanced 1.35 percent to NT$376 and MediaTek rose 2.84 percent to NT$579, Taiwan Stock Exchange data showed.
Foreign investors net sold Taiwanese shares for seven days in a row from Monday last week before buying a net NT$2.76 billion yesterday, Taiwan Stock Exchange data showed.
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