Securities Industry Taiwan

Taiwan's stocks took their biggest tumble in 3 1/2 years Friday, as rumors of military preparations by China raised the specter of a protracted standoff between the rival governments. Nearly three-quarters of the shares traded on the Taiwan Stock Exchange sank by the maximum allowable 7%, pushing the benchmark index down 6.4%, its steepest decline since Jan. 5, 1996. The 506.46-point loss was the eighth-largest ever. The benchmark index fell 13.3% this week.

Taiwan's stocks took their biggest tumble in 3 1/2 years Friday, as rumors of military preparations by China raised the specter of a protracted standoff between the rival governments. Nearly three-quarters of the shares traded on the Taiwan Stock Exchange sank by the maximum allowable 7%, pushing the benchmark index down 6.4%, its steepest decline since Jan. 5, 1996. The 506.46-point loss was the eighth-largest ever. The benchmark index fell 13.3% this week.

Stock Market Plunges 6%: Taiwan stocks tumbled today on concerns about the health of China's senior leader, Deng Xiaoping, analysts said. The benchmark weighted price index of the Taiwan Stock Exchange lost 405.88 points, or 6.13%, to 6214.48, on trading worth $2.2 billion. Declining issues outnumbered gainers, 321 to 8, with 166 companies closing down their daily trading limit of 7%.

Taiwan said it will ease restrictions on foreign investment in stocks as part of a plan to increase overseas access to its markets and make itself a regional financial center. The government will eliminate a $7.5-billion ceiling on the value of stocks foreign investors can hold, the Finance Ministry and central bank said. Instead, overseas stock purchases will be limited to 12% of the market's total capitalization. That limit would be equivalent to $29.

The Arbor Village Shopping Center in north Irvine is three time zones and 3,000 miles from the financial heart of New York. But tucked in an office here is the Hung Foo Asian Stock Exchange Information Center, where the action can be as frenzied as any on Wall Street. The Hung Foo exchange offers clients computer information on the Taiwan Stock Exchange, the world's busiest. But investors don't just come to watch.

A flood of new stock issues is hitting the Hong Kong market at a time when analysts fear that uncertainty over relations with China and the United States may dampen prices. Listed companies have already raised a record amount of capital this year. Covered warrant issues, in which owners of a stock sell investors a long-term option to buy at a fixed price, have also taken a lot of money from the market.

Taiwan said it will ease restrictions on foreign investment in stocks as part of a plan to increase overseas access to its markets and make itself a regional financial center. The government will eliminate a $7.5-billion ceiling on the value of stocks foreign investors can hold, the Finance Ministry and central bank said. Instead, overseas stock purchases will be limited to 12% of the market's total capitalization. That limit would be equivalent to $29.

Stock Market Plunges 6%: Taiwan stocks tumbled today on concerns about the health of China's senior leader, Deng Xiaoping, analysts said. The benchmark weighted price index of the Taiwan Stock Exchange lost 405.88 points, or 6.13%, to 6214.48, on trading worth $2.2 billion. Declining issues outnumbered gainers, 321 to 8, with 166 companies closing down their daily trading limit of 7%.

A drama involving shady tycoons, political intrigue, sickbed appeals and millions of dollars has gripped Taiwan's financial and political world for the last month, and the outcome seems sure to change this island's roller-coaster stock market, which has long been manipulated by a group of major players known as "Big Hands." No one has bigger hands than Oung Ta-ming, the 42-year-old head of one of Taiwan's largest conglomerates, Hualon Group.

The Central Bank of Taiwan has enacted measures to bolster investor confidence in the battered stock market after the Taiwan Stock Exchange index hit a 20-month low last weekend. The bank said it approved a Securities and Exchange Commission proposal to increase upper lending limits for those who borrow funds or stocks to invest in the stock market. The bank also said that it will permit four mutual fund companies to raise more funds from overseas investors who want to invest in Taiwan stocks.

Authorities are investigating a string of huge stock payment defaults that have plunged the market into crisis. The government also took steps to stabilize the exchange, the value of whose stocks tumbled 6.1% in panic selling Thursday. The market ended mixed Friday after institutions emerged to buy blue-chip stocks at low prices.