Taipei - Taiwan stocks surged nearly 4 per cent Monday, while the Taiwan dollar ended the day at a 10-and-a-half-year high in a post-election rally as investors expect Taiwan to fully open trade with China. The benchmark index TAIEX closed at 8,865.35, up 340.36 points, or 3.9 per cent, from Friday.
When the bourse opened at 9 am it soared to 9,049.23 points, up 524 points, or 6.1 per cent.
On Saturday, Taiwan's opposition pro-China Chinese Nationalist Party (Kuomintang or KMT) headed by Ma Ying-jeou scored a landslide victory in the presidential election, bringing the KMT back to power for the first time since it suffered an election defeat in 2000.
Ma has vowed to fully open trade as well as sea and air links with China as soon as possible, to avoid Taiwan economy's being marginalized. Ma will be inaugurated on May 20.
All China-related industries - tourism, aviation, shipping, services, electronics - are pinning hopes on Ma to honour his campaign promises and revive Taiwan's economy.
Meanwhile, the local currency finished at 30.229 Taiwan dollars against the greenback, its highest close since October 22, 1997, as foreign institutional investors poured in 6.6 billion US dollars worth of funds and exchanged them into Taiwan dollars to speculate in the local financial market, dealers said.
