Stock trading accounts hit new peak in October

The number of accounts created to trade on the local market hit a new high at the end of last month, as the TAIEX remained up more than 55 percent for the year, data released by the Taiwan Stock Exchange (TWSE) showed yesterday.

There were 14.827 million stock trading accounts at the end of last month, up 64,000 from a month earlier, the data showed.

Since the start of the year, the TAIEX had surged 16,248.23 points, or 56.10 percent, to close at 45,211.83 on Oct. 30, led by the bellwether electronics sector due to the artificial intelligence (AI) boom. The index briefly approached the 50,000 mark in early last month before pulling back sharply amid a global AI selloff, which saw foreign outflows from Taiwanese stocks hit a record.

A woman walks past an electronic stock board at the Taiwan Stock Exchange in Taipei on Oct. 19.

Photo: CNA

Overseas investors sold US$31.78 billion of Taiwanese shares on a net basis last month, surpassing the previous all-time high hit in March, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.

The TWSE data showed that investors aged 30 and under accounted for 56.3 percent of new accounts opened last month, indicating an ongoing shift toward a younger investor base in Taiwan.

As of the end of last month, investors under the age of 20 had a total of 907,350 accounts, up 16,472 from the previous month; those aged 20-30 had 1.95 million accounts, an increase of 19,694; and those aged 31-40 had 2.40 million accounts, up by 9,937, the data showed.

Investors in the 41-50 age group had 2.75 million accounts as of the end of last month, up 9,353 from the previous month; those aged 51-60 had 2.42 million accounts, up 5,550; and those over the age of 60 had 4.28 million accounts, up 1,944, according to the data.

The TWSE said institutional and other investors held 120,013 trading accounts as of the end of last month, up 1,218 from the previous month.