Taiwan: Stocks rise after 2-day typhoon break; central bank rate meeting awaited

[TAIPEI] Taiwan stocks rose on Thursday on resumption of trading after a two-session break due to a typhoon, as gains in overseas markets boosted investor sentiment.

Investors waited for the central bank's quarterly policy meeting scheduled after market hours later in the day for clues about the domestic economy.

The central bank is expected to refrain from cutting rates for the first time in a year as it expects economic prospects to improve for the trade-dependent economy, according to a Reuters poll.

But uncertainties in global demand and growth momentum are expected to keep Taiwan's monetary policy loose, economists said.

The main Taiex index was up 0.9 per cent at 9,273.87 after closing down nearly 1 per cent on Monday.

Taiwan's financial markets were shut on Tuesday and Wednesday. Typhoon Megi, the third typhoon in this month to slam into Taiwan, killed four people and injured hundreds more, prompting work and school closures.

The electronics subindex rose 1.2 per cent, while the financials subindex gained 0.6 per cent.

Among actively traded stocks, Mega Financial rose after opening lower on the latest developments in an ongoing probe of its banking unit.

On Wednesday, the Taiwan state-controlled firm said overseas branches of its banking unit were coming under greater scrutiny by regulators abroad following critical lapses involving suspect transactions between its New York and Panama branches.

The Taiwan dollar firmed NT$0.147 to NT$31.285 per US dollar.

REUTERS