TAIPEI: Taiwan stocks rose 1.21 percent to their highest close in over two months and the local currency rallied on Tuesday, joining regional bourses in gains, with safe bets such as AU Optronics up before the presidential vote this Saturday.
The main TAIEX index jumped 85.83 points to 7,178.87, its highest closing level since mid-November.
Electronics was up 0.98 percent and financial advanced 1.65 percent.
AU Optronics, whose shares had tumbled last year due to losses for quarters, soared by the 7 percent limit allowed in one session.
"The uncertainty of who wins the vote still remains," said Alex Hu, a vice president at Mega Securities' proprietary trading department. "Investors figure that beaten shares including AU are safe due to their limited downside."
Taiwan holds the elections on Jan 14 in a vote that will determine whether the island deepens economic integration
with mainland China or embarks on a period of more tense and possibly fractious relations. UMC, the world's No.2 contract chip maker and a market heavyweight, ended up 3.1 percent after releasing its December sales results.
Comments
Comments are closed for this article.