Taiwan: Stocks up with overseas markets but caution ahead of central bank meeting

[TAIPEI] Taiwan stocks rose on Tuesday mostly following overseas markets and some bargain hunting after the previous day's losses, but further gains were capped due to uncertainties ahead of the central bank's policy meeting.

Taiwan's central bank is due to meet for its quarterly policy meeting on Thursday. A slight majority of economists polled by Reuters expect the benchmark discount rate to be cut for the first time since 2009 and be the first rate change since it was raised in 2011.

As of 0139 GMT, the main TAIEX index rose 0.3 per cent, to 8,330.48, after closing down 1.8 per cent in the previous session.

On Monday after the market closed, government data showed that the on-year drop in Taiwan's export orders for August nearly doubled what economists were expecting, deepening gloom that more bad data for the trade reliant economy is ahead despite the coming peak holiday season.

The weak data could lead to a contraction in third quarter gross domestic product, according to DBS and ANZ economists in recent research notes.

The electronics subindex rose 0.2 per cent, while the financials subindex gained 0.2 per cent.

The Taiwan dollar firmed T$0.247 to T$32.692 per US dollar.

REUTERS