CAUTIONARY:A tax reduction on day trading could be adverse to individual investors without a sizeable turnover in the local bourse, as institutional players dominate the market

Taipei Times
Date: Dec 31, 2016
By: Lauly Li / Staff reporter

The TAIEX yesterday climbed 100.41 points, or 1.1 percent, to close at 9,253.5 on the last trading day of the year, driven by the Executive Yuan’s plan to cut transaction taxes on day trading by half in a bid to boost stock market turnover, analysts said.

Taiwan Stock Exchange (TWSE) turnover stood at NT$56.44 billion (US$1.75 billion), increasing by 6.97 percent from the previous day’s NT$52.76 billion, as foreign investors, proprietary traders and mutual funds bought a net NT$6.44 billion worth of Taiwanese shares.

“We expect the overall turnover to increase next year with contribution from the anticipated expansion of day trading,” Taiwan Stock Exchange senior executive and vice president Chien Lih-chung (簡立忠) told a news conference.

Chien said the TWSE will initiate new measures next month, such as allowing individual investors to purchase a fixed volume of shares or exchange-traded funds (ETFs) on a fixed-term basis to lend support to the local bourse.    [FULL  STORY]