Taiwan: Stocks rebound; TSMC gains, HTC recovers

[TAIPEI] Taiwan stocks gained 1 per cent on Wednesday after falling to nearly five-month lows on Tuesday, with TSMC leading tech heavyweights higher after the world's biggest contract chipmakers gave optimistic guidance.

Minutes into trading, the main TAIEX index rose to 9,283.76 points, after plunging 1.9 per cent to end at its lowest in almost five months.

Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co Ltd added 1.1 per cent, lifting overall electronics shares by 1.2 per cent. Company chairman Morris Chang told shareholders in an annual meeting on Tuesday that he expected the second half of this year to be better than the first.

Struggling smartphone maker HTC inched up 1 per cent after sliding 20 per cent in the previous two sessions after the company forecast losses in the second quarter.

Financial stocks also gained 0.8 per cent.

The Taiwan dollar was up 0.69 per cent to stand at T$31.085 to the US dollar.

REUTERS