Traders will from today be barred from short-selling 152 stocks after the Financial Supervisory Commission on Friday said it would tighten a short-selling ban.
The commission said it would keep a close eye on the local stock markets today and see whether investors’ confidence has been restored, the Central News Agency reported yesterday, citing an unnamed commission official.
Taiwanese shares are expected to find some respite this week after US stocks moved higher on Friday as investors priced in comments by US Federal Reserve officials that the central bank might slow the pace of rate hikes in December, equity strategists said.
Photo: CNA
The TAIEX dropped 126.9 points, or 0.98 percent, to close at 12,819.2 on Friday, posting a weekly decline of 2.35 percent, from 13,128.12 on Oct. 14, Taiwan Stock Exchange data showed.
Data compiled by the Securities and Futures Bureau showed that 105 stocks on the Taiwan Stock Exchange and 47 stocks on the Taipei Exchange dropped 3.5 percent or more on Friday, which makes them subject to the regulator’s expanded short-selling ban when the local markets open today.
The commission said in a statement on Friday that investors would not be able to short-sell stocks at a price lower than the previous close if shares drop more than 3.5 percent the previous session, effective immediately.
Securities houses and futures traders that conduct short sales for hedging purposes would not be covered by the latest ban, the commission said.
The local equities have fluctuated significantly in the past few weeks, affected by the volatility of US bond yields and US stocks, Allianz Global Investors Taiwan Ltd (安聯投信) said in a note.
As the outlook for corporate earnings remains mixed and mainstream stocks on the local markets apparently lost momentum, investors are advised to be cautious about Taiwanese equities in the near term, Allianz Taiwan’s equity research team said.
At present, investors might favor stocks that have stable cash flows and strong business fundamentals, or switch to stocks that have relatively lower valuation and growth potential, Allianz said.
In addition, counter-cyclical stocks and those that might benefit from post-COVID-19 pandemic pent-up demand might also gain momentum, it added.
Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) yesterday obtained the government’s approval to inject an additional US$7.5 billion into its US subsidiary, the Department of Investment Review said in a statement. The department approved TSMC’s application of investing in TSMC Arizona Corp, which is engaged in the manufacturing, sales, testing and design of IC and other semiconductor devices, it said. The latest capital injection follows a US$5 billion investment for TSMC Arizona approved in June. The chipmaker has broken ground on two advanced fabs in Arizona with aggregated investments approved by the department totaling US$24 billion thus far. According to TSMC, the first Arizona
The lethal hack of Hezbollah’s Asian-branded pagers and walkie-talkies has sparked an intense search for the devices’ path, revealing a murky market for older technologies where buyers might have few assurances about what they are getting. While supply chains and distribution channels for higher-margin and newer products are tightly managed, that is not the case for older electronics from Asia where counterfeiting, surplus inventories and complex contract manufacturing deals can sometimes make it impossible to identify the source of a product, analysts and consultants say. The response from the companies at the center of the booby-trapped gadgets that killed 37
FRIENDLY TAKEOVER: While Qualcomm Inc’s proposal to buy some or all of Intel raises the prospect of other competitors, Broadcom Inc is staying on the sidelines Qualcomm Inc has approached Intel Corp to discuss a potential acquisition of the struggling chipmaker, people with knowledge of the matter said, raising the prospect of one of the biggest-ever merger and acquisition deals. California-based Qualcomm proposed a friendly takeover for Intel in recent days, said the sources, who asked not to be identified discussing confidential information. The proposal is for all of the chipmaker, although Qualcomm has not ruled out buying some parts of Intel and selling off others. It is uncertain whether the initial approach would lead to an agreement and any deal is likely to come under close antitrust scrutiny
SECURITY CONCERNS: The proposed ban on Chinese autonomous vehicle software and hardware would go into effect with the 2027 and 2030 model years respectively The US Department of Commerce today is expected to propose prohibiting Chinese software and hardware in connected and autonomous vehicles on US roads due to national security concerns, two sources said. US President Joe Biden’s administration has raised concerns about the collection of data by Chinese companies on US drivers and infrastructure as well as the potential foreign manipulation of vehicles connected to the Internet and navigation systems. The proposed regulation would ban the import and sale of vehicles from China with key communications or automated driving system software or hardware, said the two sources, who declined to be identified because the