Taiwan’s stock exchange is seeking to create a cross-border stock trading platform with Singapore by this year to boost overseas access to the island’s listed shares, Chairman Lee Sush-der said in an interview.
“Opening access to our shares can benefit us with an active market and dynamic economy,” he said yesterday in his office in Taiwan’s tallest building, Taipei 101. Fundraising in the market stood at NT$654.8 billion ($27.2 billion) in 2013, Lee said, which allowed companies “to enhance research, expand capacity and eventually bolster the economy.”
The trading platform, for which the Taiwan bourse and Singapore Exchange Ltd. are discussing technical issues such as settlement rules, would lower costs for investors, Lee said. Taiwanese investors in Singapore stocks currently must buy through both local brokerages and securities firms based in the city-state. Overseas trading through the current mechanism amounted to at least NT$800 billion last year, he said.
“The cross-border platform can provide more choices and help reduce costs for investors, particularly for individuals,” Lee said.
Taiwan’s Taiex index rose 0.3% to 9,001.87 at 10:13 a.m. local time, heading for the highest close since June 8, 2011. The benchmark index advanced 12% in 2013. The economy grew at 2.11% in the same period, with private consumption rising 1.77%, according to government data. Foreigners, which have been were net buyers over the past 22 trading days, hold about 35% of domestic equities.
FORMOSA INDEX
“Easier access to overseas markets will benefit local brokerages, while foreign investors may be attracted to the domestic market that is poised to gain more ground,” said Tu Jin-lung, chairman of KGI Securities Investment Advisory Co.
Efforts to establish a cross-border trading platform coincide with another internationalization push by the exchange, the introduction of an index comprised by all companies listed on the main board and on the GreTai Securities Market exchange, which has a market capitalization of NT$2.68 trillion compared with the NT$25.5 trillion of the Taiwan Stock Exchange.
Sub-indexes and other related products are being planned for this gauge, called the Formosa Index, to be introduced on May 5, Lee said. The benchmark will start trading at a level based on prices at the end of 2013.
“It will provide a whole picture of the local equities market,” Lee said.
No comments:
Post a Comment