Taipei - Taiwan's stocks ended 3 per cent higher Thursday, fuelled by Wall Street's overnight rally, with financial shares leading the way, dealers said.

The main Taiex index opened with a bang after US data suggested the global downturn could be moderating and extended its gains throughout the day to end at 5,473.78, up 159.33 points.

All major eight sectors rose with the financial subindex rising 5.8 per cent to become the day's biggest winner, followed by food's 5.3 per cent, cement's 4.6 per cent and petrochemical's 4.4 per cent. (dpa)