Index compiler FTSE Group kept its classification for Taiwan at advanced emerging market status, but the Taiwan stock exchange would study plans to improve the country’s investment environment, the Taiwan Stock Exchange Corp (TWSE, 台灣證券交易所) said yesterday.
Taiwan has been on the FTSE Watch List for possible promotion since 2004 and a move to developed market status would have placed Taiwan on par with other regional peers such as Hong Kong, Singapore and Japan.
The TWSE said in a statement that Taiwan would remain on the watch list to be upgraded and it still lacks in areas such as a free and well-developed foreign exchange market and a better process for off-exchange transactions.
However, the exchange said it would continue to improve the country’s investment environment to play catch-up with other rivals in the developed markets. The exchange did not say when FTSE will review the status again.
Meanwhile, Taiwan has a flexible foreign-exchange rate policy and maintains “dynamic stability” in its currency, the central bank said in a statement yesterday.
The central bank will “maintain order” in the currency market if irregular factors cause excessive volatility, the bank said, after it learned that currency restrictions was one of the factors deterring the FTSE from upgrading Taiwan’s market status.
The central bank said there are no restrictions on funds being transferred in and out of Taiwan for investment in the country’s securities and its currency policy has not drawn criticism from overseas investors.
The FTSE news came after Taipei’s financial markets closed. The main TAIEX index rose 0.5 percent to a 14-month closing high, while the NT dollar rose to a more than three-month high.
Paul Hoff, FTSE’s managing director for Asia Pacific, said in July that Taiwan needs to make the local currency more freely available and implement changes to rules on stock borrowing and lending before the island can win “developed market” status.
Reclassification would enable funds overseeing a larger pool of capital to consider investing in the country’s assets.
Korea Exchange Inc, South Korea’s bourse operator, expects as much as US$21.3 billion of net inflows as the country will be upgraded to a developed market by FTSE on Monday.
The exchanged said in a statement on Sept. 10 that it increased its estimate for the amount of money that will flow in as a result of its new developed-market status at FTSE from US$16 billion projected at the time of the upgrade was announced in September last year.
The amount was increased to reflect the higher market capitalization, the South Korean exchange said.
Yesterday, United Arab Emirates shares rose, with Dubai’s benchmark index increasing to a three-month high, as the countries stock markets were upgraded to “emerging market” status by FTSE.
The UAE move to “secondary emerging market” status will be effective in September next year, said FTSE.
FTSE bases its assessment on a list of factors, including the regulatory environment and transparency.
TECH RACE: The Chinese firm showed off its new Mate XT hours after the latest iPhone launch, but its price tag and limited supply could be drawbacks China’s Huawei Technologies Co (華為) yesterday unveiled the world’s first tri-foldable phone, as it seeks to expand its lead in the world’s biggest smartphone market and steal the spotlight from Apple Inc hours after it debuted a new iPhone. The Chinese tech giant showed off its new Mate XT, which users can fold three ways like an accordion screen door, during a launch ceremony in Shenzhen. The Mate XT comes in red and black and has a 10.2-inch display screen. At 3.6mm thick, it is the world’s slimmest foldable smartphone, Huawei said. The company’s Web site showed that it has garnered more than
CROSS-STRAIT TENSIONS: The US company could switch orders from TSMC to alternative suppliers, but that would lower chip quality, CEO Jensen Huang said Nvidia Corp CEO Jensen Huang (黃仁勳), whose products have become the hottest commodity in the technology world, on Wednesday said that the scramble for a limited amount of supply has frustrated some customers and raised tensions. “The demand on it is so great, and everyone wants to be first and everyone wants to be most,” he told the audience at a Goldman Sachs Group Inc technology conference in San Francisco. “We probably have more emotional customers today. Deservedly so. It’s tense. We’re trying to do the best we can.” Huang’s company is experiencing strong demand for its latest generation of chips, called
ISSUES: Gogoro has been struggling with ballooning losses and was recently embroiled in alleged subsidy fraud, using Chinese-made components instead of locally made parts Gogoro Inc (睿能創意), the nation’s biggest electric scooter maker, yesterday said that its chairman and CEO Horace Luke (陸學森) has resigned amid chronic losses and probes into the company’s alleged involvement in subsidy fraud. The board of directors nominated Reuntex Group (潤泰集團) general counsel Tamon Tseng (曾夢達) as the company’s new chairman, Gogoro said in a statement. Ruentex is Gogoro’s biggest stakeholder. Gogoro Taiwan general manager Henry Chiang (姜家煒) is to serve as acting CEO during the interim period, the statement said. Luke’s departure came as a bombshell yesterday. As a company founder, he has played a key role in pushing for the
Vanguard International Semiconductor Corp (世界先進) and Episil Technologies Inc (漢磊) yesterday announced plans to jointly build an 8-inch fab to produce silicon carbide (SiC) chips through an equity acquisition deal. SiC chips offer higher efficiency and lower energy loss than pure silicon chips, and they are able to operate at higher temperatures. They have become crucial to the development of electric vehicles, artificial intelligence data centers, green energy storage and industrial devices. Vanguard, a contract chipmaker focused on making power management chips and driver ICs for displays, is to acquire a 13 percent stake in Episil for NT$2.48 billion (US$77.1 million).