Taiwan Stocks Tumble 980 Points Intraday, Close Down 667 Points
Taiwan stocks faced heavy selling pressure today (29th), with the weighted index plunging as much as 980.51 points intraday to a low of 46055.07 points. It closed down 667.25 points, or 1.42%, at 46368.33 points, with turnover reaching 7891.52 billion. The three major institutional investors sold a combined net 816.66 billion, with foreign investors turning from buyers to sellers and trimming 688.15 billion in a single day; investment trusts remained net buyers for the 13th consecutive trading day, adding 86.49 billion today; proprietary dealers ended 2 straight days of buying with net selling of 1.84 billion on their own account, while hedging operations posted net selling for the 15th consecutive trading day, trimming 213.16 billion today.
State-Owned Banks Buy Electronics Stocks, UMC Tops with 33,000 Lots
According to statistics, the top 10 net buys by the eight state-owned banks today were UMC (2303) with 33533 lots, Innolux (3481) with 7939 lots, AUO (2409) with 7911 lots, Macronix (2337) with 5624 lots, Compal (2324) with 4607 lots, Cheng Mei Materials (4960) with 4353 lots, Fu-Chiao (1815) with 3436 lots, Chipbond (6147) with 2947 lots, Taiwan Glass (1802) with 2089 lots, and GIS-KY (6456) with 1325 lots. Buying in UMC was significantly larger than in other stocks, while panel makers Innolux and AUO ranked 2nd and 3rd with net buying of over 7900 lots each, showing that state-owned buying today was mainly concentrated in electronics-related stocks.
Notably, UMC and AUO were both among the top five net sells by foreign investors today, yet were bought against the trend by state-owned banks, with UMC also the turnover leader in Taiwan stocks today. Foreign investors' top five net sells today were UMC, AUO, Innolux, Macronix and Compal, highly overlapping with the state-owned banks' buy list, reflecting divergent trading directions among different institutions. On the investment trust side, today's top five net buys were Walsin Technology, Chang Wah*, Inventec, Nan Ya and ASE Technology Holding; the top five net sells were UMC, Mega Financial, Formosa Petrochemical, CTBC Financial and Taishin Shin Kong Financial.
Financial Stocks Become Cash Cows, State-Owned Banks and Foreign Investors Diverge
The top 10 net sells by the eight state-owned banks today were WIN Semiconductors (3105) with 3490 lots, Taishin Shin Kong Financial (2887) with 2776 lots, CTBC Financial (2891) with 2561 lots, Faraday (3035) with 2198 lots, Chang Hwa Bank (2801) with 1974 lots, Formosa Plastics (1301) with 1846 lots, First Financial (2892) with 1771 lots, SinoPac Financial (2890) with 1383 lots, Walsin Technology (2492) with 1280 lots, and Taiwan Business Bank (2834) with 1217 lots. WIN Semiconductors topped the net-sell list, with Taishin Shin Kong Financial and CTBC Financial ranking 2nd and 3rd. Financial stocks occupied 6 of the top 10 net sells, including Taishin Shin Kong Financial, CTBC Financial, Chang Hwa Bank, First Financial, SinoPac Financial and Taiwan Business Bank, becoming one of the main trimming targets. Meanwhile, Taishin Shin Kong Financial, CTBC Financial, Chang Hwa Bank and Faraday were all among foreign investors' top five net buys today, yet were simultaneously sold by state-owned banks, showing that foreign investors and state-owned banks moved in different directions on some financial and electronics stocks. Subsequent fund flows warrant attention.