TWSE plans to set up office in Vietnam

Taipei, Jan. 30 (CNA) The Taiwan Stock Exchange (TWSE), which runs Taiwan's main stock market, is planning to open an office in Vietnam to attract investment from the Southeast Asian market.

Speaking with reporters, TWSE Chairman Sherman Lin (林修銘) said Monday that the office in Vietnam will be aimed at serving investors, including Taiwanese firms, from Vietnam and Thailand and getting them to invest in Taiwan.

According to the TWSE, the Vietnam office will become the exchange's first overseas foothold. But it said that even before the office opens, it will begin working with foreign brokerages in Vietnam to solicit funds for investment in Taiwan.

Previously, the exchange has sought to attract investment in Japan, Hong Kong, Singapore, the United States and Europe by working with financial institutions in those areas, Lin said.

According to TWSE data, foreign institutional investors sold a net NT$1.29 trillion (US$42.86 billion) in shares on Taiwan's stock market in 2022 due to a sell-off in tech stocks amid aggressive rate hikes by the U.S. Federal Reserve.

But foreign institutional investors still accounted for more than 40 percent of the market's capitalization, an indication of the importance of foreign investment in Taiwan's main board.

Lin lauded the sound fundamentals of companies listed on Taiwan's stock markets.

He said the combined sales of the companies listed on the main exchange and the OTC market rose 5 percent for the year and pretax profit was up 9 percent in the first nine months of 2022, even though Taiwan's economy was hurt by a weakening global economy in 2022, he said.

Meanwhile, the TWSE will recategorize the companies listed on the market to keep up with a fast-changing economy.

The TWSE said it will introduce new categories, including the digital, green energy, and sports/leisure sectors, sometime in June.