Taiwan stocks rise, led by banks, techs

* Financials up on Taiwan-China economic pact hopes

* Techs gain on expectation of better Q3 results

* Asustek rises on hopes of increasing shipments next year

TAIPEI, Oct 26 - Taiwan stocks rose 0.98 percent on Monday as better-than-expected export orders and expectations of upbeat quarterly results helped fuel gains in tech shares such as TSMC.

Financial shares also helped lead the main index higher, with Cathay Financial jumping 2.16 percent after local newspapers reported that China and Taiwan would take negotiations on an economic agreement to the next level sooner than expected.

As of 0145 GMT, the main TAIEX share index advanced 75.28 points at 7,724.56, hovering at a 16-month intraday high.

The financial sub-index jumped 1.86 percent, while the electronics sub-index was 0.73 percent higher.

"Financial shares were the main force behind the main index's gain today," said Tom Tang, a vice president at Masterlink Investment Advisory.

"But there's also lot of attention on tech shares as major technology companies are scheduled to report their results this week."

TSMC and UMC, the world's two largest contract chip makers, jumped 1.14 percent and 1.21 percent, respectively. The two are due to report their third- quarter earnings later this week. .

Netbook PC pioneer Asustek advanced 1.89 percent, with the computer and peripheral equipment rose 0.8 percent.

Asustek's chief executive officer said the company aimed for its notebook PC shipments to grow faster than the overall industry in 2010 on expectations for an uptick in demand.

Asustek's rival Acer, the world's No.2 PC brand, rose 0.72 percent.

LED module maker Epistar rose 0.88 percent after a newspaper reported that it would form a strategic alliance with the Formosa Plastics Group.

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