The Taiwan Stock Exchange (TWSE) is working on improving a key trading system popular among retail investors and planning longer trading hours to attract more demand, the bourse’s chairman said yesterday in Taipei.
The exchange is studying ways to optimize the so-called odd-lot transactions mechanism, which caters to trades involving less than one standard unit of shares and is heavily used by individual investors, TWSE chairman Sherman Lin (林修銘) said in an interview.
Reforms under consideration include moving the start time of such trades 10 minutes earlier to 9am to match the market’s regular trading hours, Lin said, adding that the exchange is considering shortening the current five-second order matching cycle.
Photo: CNA
“Our goal is to complete odd-lot trading reforms by year-end through actively working with securities firms,” Lin said. “Retail investors play such a big role in Taiwan’s market. We must safeguard their interests.”
Having risen about 50 percent this year, Taiwan’s stock market has emerged as one of the world’s top performers, fueled by demand for artificial intelligence trade and a surge of buying by retail investors.
Already at a record high, the local bourse recorded another milestone by surpassing India’s stock market this month to become the world’s fifth largest.
The exchange is also discussing with brokerages extending the market’s regular trading hours of 9am to 1:30pm, he said, without offering a specific timeline.
“Extending trading hours may take more time to implement, as the process is relatively complex,” he added.
Equities bourses around the world have embarked on a trend to lengthen trading hours to better capture investor flows. For example, South Korea’s main stock exchange plans to extend its business hours to 12 a day this year from the current six-and-a-half hours.
Despite the strong rally, Taiwan’s tech-heavy stock market remains undervalued compared with its global peers, Lin said.
The TAIEX trades at about 20 times forward earnings, versus the NASDAQ 100’s 25 times.
Lin highlighted Taiwan’s unique strength in hosting the entire semiconductor supply chain.
“We are not selling one single company, we are selling the whole supply chain,” he said.
Foreign investors should recognize a “supply chain premium,” as more firms demonstrate management depths and strategic value, he said.
The exchange is urging listed companies to step up investor communications and lay out their medium and long-term strategies to help unlock value, Lin said.
After several years flying high as Asia’s best Nvidia Corp proxy, Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) is increasingly vying with other artificial intelligence (AI) stocks for investor attention. Stock traders are chasing a wider array of beneficiaries as mainstream usage of AI creates demand for hardware beyond the most-advanced chips TSMC makes for Nvidia. Subthemes from the deepening memory crunch to advances in robotics are also luring bids. At the same time, investment caps on single stocks are pushing funds to diversify, while retail investors long familiar with TSMC through its US depositary receipts are being offered a broader set of
Netherlands-based semiconductor equipment supplier ASML Holding NV yesterday said that it is planning to hire an additional 1,000 people in Taiwan this year in response to growing demand from clients. ASML had previously planned to recruit 600 people this year, but that the plan has been adjusted upward, ASML vice president and ASML Taiwan general manager Grace Wang (汪佳慧) told reporters. ASML has a workforce of more than 4,500 in Taiwan, accounting for about 10 percent of its global total, Wang said. This year’s recruitment campaign would focus on adding people in the customer support, manufacturing and supply chain domains to assist ASML
UNDER MICROSCOPE: Taiwan detained three people who allegedly conspired to buy servers in Taiwan and export them using fraudulent documentation, prosecutors said Nvidia Corp chief executive officer Jensen Huang (黃仁勳) on Saturday urged Super Micro Computer Inc to tighten up on compliance after Taiwan detained three people this week for allegedly making fraudulent declarations about artificial intelligence (AI) servers made by its US partner. The development marked the nation’s first crackdown on semiconductor smuggling, which grew after the US slapped restrictions on exports of high-end chips such as Nvidia AI accelerators to China. Nvidia is “rigorous” in explaining regulations to all of its partners, Huang told reporters after arriving in Taipei. “Ultimately Super Micro has to run their own company,” he said in response to
Nvidia Corp yesterday announced that CEO Jensen Huang (黃仁勳) would attend an employee meeting in Taipei tomorrow to celebrate the launch of the company’s Taiwan headquarters project. Huang would attend a gathering at the site of Nvidia’s planned headquarters in Beitou Shilin Technology Park (北投士林科技園區), the company said in a statement. After arriving in Taiwan on Saturday last week, Huang told reporters that he plans to meet with Quanta Computer Inc (廣達) chairman Barry Lam (林百里) and Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) chairman C.C. Wei (魏哲家), and would attend the groundbreaking ceremony for Nvidia’s Taiwan headquarters tomorrow. Nvidia has not yet applied
RSS