Taiwan stocks edged higher on Tuesday as falling oil prices spurred buying in transportation shares, with the main index on track for a 2014 gain of around 8 per cent.
As of 0135 GMT, the main TAIEX index rose 17.90 points to 9304.18, after closing up 0.7 per cent on Monday.
Shares in shipper Yang Ming Marine Transport Corp jumped 4.3 per cent, while Taiwanese airline EVA Airways Corp climbed 1.6 per cent on hopes that lower fuel prices should help bolster the bottomline for oil-reliant transport stocks.
Crude oil prices have tumbled to five-year lows.
Taiwan’s financial markets will be shut Thursday and Friday, and reopen on Monday.
Gains were also underpinned by buying by foreign investors who have mostly been net purchasers of shares for the past two weeks.
The transport sub-index was up 1.6 percent, while the bellwether electronics sub-index was up a smaller 0.2 per cent. The Taiwan dollar was up T$0.012 to stand at T$31.749 to the US dollar.