Taiwan stocks rise; financial up interest rates held

TAIPEI: Taiwan stocks opened 0.5 percent higher on Friday, with financial firms such as Mega Financial and China Life gaining after the central bank held benchmark interest rates.

At the opening bell, the main TAIEX index climbed 35.03 points to 7,109.85, extending the 0.26 percent gain in previous session. But the index remains on track for its worst annual performance since 2008.

The top winning sector was financials, up 1.7 percent. Electronics shares rose 0.5 percent.

State-run Mega and China Life both rose more than 1.7 percent.