-
By Chen Cheng-hui / Staff reporter
Taiwan’s money supply, measured by M1B and M2 movements, posted mild growth last month, the latest central bank data released on Thursday showed.
The M1B — a narrow measure of money in circulation — rose 4.07 percent last month from a year ago, compared with August’s 4.05 percent increase, the central bank said in a report, attributing the improvement to rising demand deposits.
In the first nine months of this year, M1B rose 4.66 percent, it said.
Photo: CNA
The annual growth of the broader M2 money supply — which includes M1B, time deposits, time savings deposits, foreign currency deposits and mutual funds — was 5.6 percent last month, down from the 5.8 percent recorded in August, the central bank said.
The annual growth of M2 had decelerated for the third consecutive month last month due to continued capital outflows, it said.
However, the average annual growth of M2 in the first nine months was 5.9 percent, within the central bank’s target range of 2.5 percent to 6.5 percent. This indicates that the liquidity level in the market is still abundant, which is beneficial to consumption, the stock market and other investment activities, the central bank said.
That was evidenced by the continued growth in bank loans and investments, with the annual growth of lending and investment by all monetary institutions accelerating for the sixth straight month, up from 8.4 percent in August to 8.85 percent last month, central bank data showed.
Meanwhile, the securities account balance, a major confidence gauge of the local stock market by retail investors, fell NT$5.3 billion (US$165.3 million) to NT$3.49 trillion last month, while the balance of margin loans increased NT$12.3 billion to NT$427.3 billion, the central bank said.
The central bank said the securities account balance last month decreased slightly from the previous month as the TAIEX underwent a consolidation, but the figure still marked the fifth-highest level on record. In addition, the balance of margin loans rebounded last month and represented the third-highest level since May 2008, it said.
Both figures reflected that retail investors’ willingness to invest in the stock market is still positive, which is conducive to the trading of Taiwanese stocks going forward, it added.
The TAIEX on Friday closed at 23,348.45 points, up 0.67 percent from the previous session. It has risen 30.21 percent so far this year, with a daily average turnover of NT$422.43 billion on the main board, Taiwan Stock Exchange data showed.
