Taiwan stocks up

Taiwan stocks edged up 0.23 percent on Thursday, lifted by tech heavyweights Hon Hai Precision Industry and HTC Corp, both up around 2.2 percent. Hon Hai's smaller rival Pegatron Corp, however, eased 1.8 percent even though it posted a 81 percent surge in first-quarter profit.
The company also said it would increase its number of workers in China by up to 40 percent in the second half, fuelling market speculation of Apple Inc's new cheaper iPhone. The main TAIEX index climbed 18.8 points to 8,285.89, extending gains from a 21-month closing high in the prior session. The world's No 3 contract chipmaker UMC shed early gains and lost 1.7 percent, despite delivering a better-than-expected quarterly net profit. The Taiwan dollar rose T$0.101 to stand at T$29.399 to the US dollar.