TAIPEI: Taiwan’s stocks rallied the most in nearly two years as financial companies jumped on speculation the island will broaden access to China’s capital markets.
The benchmark Taiex index climbed 1.9 percent at 12:33 p.m. in Taipei, poised for its biggest advance since July 2013. A gauge of banks, brokerages and insurers surged 4.7 percent, the most since December 2011. Cathay Financial Holding Co. and Fubon Financial Holding Co., the island’s two biggest lenders by market capitalization, advanced more than 4.8 percent.
China’s securities regulator is studying setting up a stock-trading link between Shanghai and Taipei, the Economic Daily News reported Wednesday, while Taiwan’s government said it will open a cross-border stock trading platform with Singapore on July 1. Hong Kong’s benchmark equity gauge has jumped 17 percent amid record turnover since a link with Shanghai began in November.
