Taiwan to soon regulate stock research reports to limit manipulation

TAIPEI, July 31 (Reuters): Taiwan's financial regulators will soon ban foreign and local brokerages from giving target prices for individual stocks to the media, an official said on Thursday, a step aimed at preventing market manipulation.

The ban will be among a new set of rules by the Financial Supervisory Commission which will also require the media to clearly attribute research reports, said Chang Li-chen, deputy director of the regulator's Securities Futures Bureau.

If brokerages need to clarify media reports, they must do so via the stock exchange website, the official added.

"It's hard to give a specific timetable (for the rules), but we'll do it as soon as possible," Chang told Reuters.