Following the closure of its intervention in the local stock market in mid-April, Taiwan’s National Financial Stabilization Fund reported that it had pocketed more than NT$6 billion (US$186 billion) in profit from its investments as of the end of last month, the Ministry of Finance (MOF) said yesterday.
The stabilization fund, which aims to mitigate market volatility, released the updated financial results in a fund committee meeting held earlier yesterday.
The committee said it had sold about 60 percent of the stocks bought during the intervention period that started on July 13 last year and ended on April 13 this year, and had posted a total of NT$5.33 billion in gains and received about NT$1.35 billion in cash dividends from its investments.
Photo: CNA
Net income as of the end of last month stood at NT$6.18 billion with a return rate of 19.63 percent, according to the ministry.
That intervention, the eighth ever, marked the stabilization fund’s longest market presence, a total of 275 days, including 181 trading sessions.
The intervention came after the TAIEX dipped below 14,000 points on July 12 last year amid escalating fears over rising interest rates in the US which were sending global financial markets into a tailspin.
During the intervention, the stabilization fund injected about NT$54.51 billion into the market to bolster share prices, the third-highest injection ever by the fund, the ministry said.
During that time, the TAIEX rose 13.29 percent, outperforming many foreign counterparts, it said.
Since the withdrawal from the local stock market, the TAIEX has risen 867.27 points, or 5.49 percent, ending at 16,672.03 yesterday, indicating that local shares have stayed stable despite the stabilization fund not currently intervening, the ministry said.
With Taiwan’s exports returning to a growth pattern last month, solid domestic demand and government measures to encourage investment, the local stock market is expected to stay stable, it said.
However, the ministry warned of the potential negative impacts of geopolitical risks and high inflation in the global markets, saying that the stabilization fund would continue to monitor the stock market closely and would make a prompt response if necessary.
The government set up the NT$500 billion stabilization fund in 2000 to serve as a buffer against unexpected external factors that might disrupt the local bourse.
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