Major Investors Returning to the Taiwanese Stock Market

Taipei, Dec. 4, 2012 (CENS)--Taiex index rose for the eighth consecutive session yesterday (Dec. 3). Large securities firms attributed the rally to major Taiwanese investors returning to the market in the guise of foreign investors, leading to marked increase of new accounts opened by foreign investors in October and high overbuying value of foreign investors recently.

An official of the Financial Supervisory Commission (FSC) noted that the return of investment funds underscores confidence in the fundamentals of Taiwanese stocks among major domestic investors.

Officials of securities firms pointed out that affected by the impact resulting from the levy of securities transaction gains tax, many major investors switched to the Hong Kong market several months ago. In early November, legislator Lai Shih-pao pointed out that the share of major investors, with daily trading volume exceeding NT$50 million, in the overall trading volume had plunged by four percentage points and their number had decreased by several hundreds.

Officials of securities firms remarked that previously many major investors switched to the Hong Kong market to escape the sluggish domestic market and transform into foreign investors for returning to invest in Taiwan, so as to evade the levy of securities transaction gains tax next year.

Since the outbreak of the dispute over the securities transaction gains tax, the amount of registration applications by foreign institutional investors dropped to 65-94 during the June-September period before rising to 106 in October.

Securities-firm officials noted that in addition to their familiarity with Taiwanese stocks, another reason for the return of major investors is the low stock prices, which have greatly boosted the investment value of many stocks.