Exchange-traded funds (ETFs) became major targets for investors in Taiwan last year, while ETFs with high dividend payouts were particularly popular, Taiwan Depository and Clearing Corp (TDCC, 台灣集中保管結算所) said on Wednesday.
The Cathay MSCI Taiwan ESG Sustainability High Dividend Yield ETF coded 00878 replaced China Steel Corp (中鋼), the nation’s biggest steelmaker, as the stock owned by the largest number of shareholders in Taiwan last year, TDCC said in a statement, citing a survey.
An ETF, a pooled investment security, which is traded like an individual stock, is able to track the price of a single stock or a large and diverse collection of securities.
Photo: CNA
After 00878, contract chipmaker Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) came in second and was followed by China Steel, the Yuanta/P-shares Taiwan Dividend Plus ETF coded 0056, and the Capital TIP Customized Taiwan Select High Dividend ETF coded 00191.
China Steel in 2023 had the largest number of shareholders, ahead of TSMC, 00878, 0056 and KGI Financial Holding Co (凱基金控).
The top five stocks each had more than 1 million shareholders and the rankings showed investors favored ETFs over individual stocks, which has become an investment trend, TDCC said.
TSMC was one of the top five stocks owned by Gen Alpha, or those aged between 0 and 11; Gen Z, or those between the ages of 12 and 27; and Millennials, or those between 28 and 43 years old, it said.
The other four stocks were ETFs, with the top choice being 00878, it added.
Gen X, or those from ages 44 to 59; Baby Boomers, or those aged between 60 to 78; and investors older than 78 favored China Steel and their portfolios included fewer ETFs from the top five stocks, TDCC said.
The figures echoed a previous statement released by TDCC that said the number of shareholders of listed ETFs on the Taiwan Stock Exchange rose by almost 70 percent from a year earlier to more than 10 million last year.
Taiwan listed its the first ETF — 0050 — in 2003. More than two decades later, the country lifted a ban on trading active ETFs and multi-asset ETFs in August last year, as part of its efforts to transform itself into a wealth management hub in Asia.
A total of 181 ETFs are listed on the local market with NT$3.48 trillion (US$105.65 billion) in aggregate assets, TDCC said.
As of the end of last year, the local stock market had 12.98 million investors, up 700,000 from a year earlier, it added.
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