Deputy Minister of Finance Frank Juan (阮清華), who is also executive secretary of the National Stabilization Fund (NSF), yesterday denied speculation that the fund took advantage of soaring stock prices to sell shares for profit.
Asked about the rumors during a legislative meeting of the Finance Committee, Juan said the stabilization fund would not sell any of the holdings accumulated during its intervention until the committee decides to withdraw from the market.
“When the fund will retreat from the market will be decided by its committee,” Juan said. “Even if the committee decides to stop the intervention, it will adjust its positions based on market conditions and is unlikely to cut its holdings in one or two sessions.”
Photo: Fang Pin-chao, Taipei Times
The committee is scheduled to meet on Monday next week to discuss whether the fund will continue its market support program.
The NT$500 billion (US$15.85 billion) stabilization fund was established in 2000 to cushion the local equity market against unexpected external factors that might disrupt the local bourse.
The fund launched its latest intervention on April 9 last year, the ninth such move since its creation, as market volatility intensified after the White House on April 2 announced sweeping “reciprocal tariffs” on the US’ trading partners, including Taiwan.
The nation has since negotiated the tariff down from 32 percent to 20 percent and continues talks for further reductions.
Meanwhile, optimism over artificial intelligence (AI) development helped fuel a strong market rebound. From April 9 to the end of last year, the TAIEX surged 66.54 percent to close at 28,963.6 points. For the entire year, the index soared 25.73 percent.
The TAIEX rose a further 2.57 percent to close at 30,105.04 points yesterday, surpassing 30,000 points for the first time, led largely by contract chipmaker Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電), a major AI-related stock.
“It was hard in the past to imagine the TAIEX breaching 30,000 points, but now it has happened, as Taiwan’s industries move in the right direction,” Juan said, referring to domestic firms’ efforts in AI development.
He also attributed the TAIEX’s 755-point rise yesterday to TSMC’s strong gains, which contributed about 670 points of the index’s upturn.
Responding to lawmakers’ concerns about uneven growth between high-tech and traditional sectors, Juan said the government would assist old-economy industries in upgrading and narrowing the gap with their high-tech counterparts.
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