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進入《TAIPEI TIMES》Stabilization fund activated amid stock market rout
A smartphone screen shows the TAIEX’s movement at a brokerage firm in Taipei yesterday. The TAIEX closed down 389.91 points at 13,950.62 yesterday, after coming off an intraday low of 13,928.66. Photo: CNA
‘GLOBAL UNCERTAINTY’: The TAIEX underperformed most of its Asian peers and has recorded the worst decline among global markets since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine
By Lisa Wang / Staff reporter
The management committee of the National Stabilization Fund has activated the NT$500 billion （US$16.7 billion） fund to bolster the local stock market, the Ministry of Finance said in a statement yesterday.
The announcement came after the TAIEX tumbled 25.19 percent from its peak this year, underperforming most of its Asian counterparts, amid mounting uncertainty about the global economy and geopolitical unrest, the ministry said.
The TAIEX yesterday plunged 2.72 percent to close at 13,950.62 points, the lowest level in about two years, with a thin turnover of NT$199.67 billion.
Weak investor confidence has triggered panic sell-offs, as the local stock market has slumped deeper than regional peers, the statement said.
“A shrinking daily turnover and persistent net selling by foreign investors show that investors are losing confidence” in the local market, the statement said.
“Considering global political and economic uncertainty, the committee members have agreed to authorize the fund’s executive secretary to activate the fund to restore order in the local market,” it said.
The TAIEX’s 3,393-point rout in the first half of the year has erased about NT$10.1 trillion of stock value, the statement said, adding that it was the worst first-half performance on record.
Overseas fund managers have so far sold a net NT$900 billion of local shares, preventing a recovery on the TAIEX, it added.
The index has fallen 23.43 percent since the beginning of this year, outperforming only the Philadelphia Semiconductor Index’s 35.29 percent loss and NASDAQ’s 27.31 percent drop, the statement said.
The TAIEX has also been the worst performer among global stock markets since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in February, falling 22.74 percent over the period.
As investor confidence is significantly undermined by uncertainty over the Russia-Ukraine war and the global economic outlook amid accelerating rate hikes by major central banks, it is time for the fund to step in to stabilize the financial market, the statement said.
新聞來源：TAIPEI TIMES
