Taiwan stocks jump

Taiwan stocks jumped 1.11 percent on Wednesday, lifted by banks, plastics and oil counters, as investors across the region turned to riskier assets on optimism that Greece's parliament will approve an austerity programme. The TAIEX index ended up 94.52 points at 8,573.38, after opening up 0.73 percent. The financial sub-index was also among the top gainers, rising 2.5 percent ahead of an expected rate hike by the central bank on Thursday. Cathay Financial rose 4.66 percent.
All 15 economists in a Reuters poll expect the central bank to raise the benchmark discount rate by 12.5 basis points to 1.875 percent.Electronics shares rose 0.2 percent. Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co Ltd rose 2.73 percent, though HTC Corp slipped 4.9 percent.