Taiwan stocks eked out a modest gain on Thursday, closing up 0.12 percent as a rise in tourism shares offset a weak performance by property developers. Fund managers expected the main index to be range-bound between 8,700-9,000 points before the Lunar New Year in early February as turnover stayed low, despite more expected inflow of foreign funds.
"Hot money will continue to come to Asia and Taiwan will benefit, however the turnover will take time to build up," said Harvey Chang, a fund manager of SinoPac Securities. The TAIEX index rose 10.58 points to 8,975.58, after opening up 0.77 percent higher above 9,000. Tourism shares were up 1.68 percent, while the financial sub index climbed 0.49 percent.