The dollar began the year under renewed pressure Friday on worries about the American current account deficit, although strong US economic data offered a little assistance to the struggling currency.
The euro stood at US$1.2590 against US$1.2591 late on Wednesday in New York, virtually all world markets having been closed on Thursday.
The dollar was being traded at ¥106.95 from ¥107.22 on Wednesday.
Earlier in the week, the euro had pushed through both the US$1.25 and US$1.26 marks for the first time in its five-year history, peaking at US$1.2648 during Wednesday before slipping back.
The euro's recent series of all-time bests against the dollar has been fuelled by deepening concern about the US current account and budget deficits, as well as ultra-low US interest rates and fears about terrorism and the possible spread of mad cow disease.
Nothing had changed thus far this year, analysts said.
"The main theme continues -- US dollar weakness and continued difficulties faced by the world's largest economy in financing its huge current account deficit," said Mark McFarland, currency strategist at UBS.
The euro received a fresh boost early Friday after a monthly eurozone purchasing managers' index for the manufacturing sector rose in December against the previous month, although by less than expected.
Meanwhile the pound hit an 11-year best against the US currency as strong British manufacturing data and near-record consumer credit figures increased expectations of another interest rate rise by the Bank of England in the near future.
Overall, trade was very slow on Friday, with Japanese markets remaining closed until next week and many European and US traders taking an extended New Year break.
The euro was changing hands at US$1.2590 from US$1.2591 late on Wednesday in New York, ¥134.67 (¥135.03), £0.7027 (£0.7048) and 1.5598 Swiss francs (Sf1.5590).
The dollar stood at ¥106.95 (¥107.22) and 1.2386 Swiss francs (Sf1.2390).
The pound was at US$1.7916 (US$1.7853), ¥191.59 (¥191.48) and 2.2187 Swiss francs (Sf2.2120).
On the London Bullion Market, the price of an ounce of gold stood at US$415.25, against US$415.25 late Wednesday.
Among the rows of vibrators, rubber torsos and leather harnesses at a Chinese sex toys exhibition in Shanghai this weekend, the beginnings of an artificial intelligence (AI)-driven shift in the industry quietly pulsed. China manufactures about 70 percent of the world’s sex toys, most of it the “hardware” on display at the fair — whether that be technicolor tentacled dildos or hyper-realistic personalized silicone dolls. Yet smart toys have been rising in popularity for some time. Many major European and US brands already offer tech-enhanced products that can enable long-distance love, monitor well-being and even bring people one step closer to
Malaysia’s leader yesterday announced plans to build a massive semiconductor design park, aiming to boost the Southeast Asian nation’s role in the global chip industry. A prominent player in the semiconductor industry for decades, Malaysia accounts for an estimated 13 percent of global back-end manufacturing, according to German tech giant Bosch. Now it wants to go beyond production and emerge as a chip design powerhouse too, Malaysian Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim said. “I am pleased to announce the largest IC (integrated circuit) Design Park in Southeast Asia, that will house world-class anchor tenants and collaborate with global companies such as Arm [Holdings PLC],”
TRANSFORMATION: Taiwan is now home to the largest Google hardware research and development center outside of the US, thanks to the nation’s economic policies President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) yesterday attended an event marking the opening of Google’s second hardware research and development (R&D) office in Taiwan, which was held at New Taipei City’s Banciao District (板橋). This signals Taiwan’s transformation into the world’s largest Google hardware research and development center outside of the US, validating the nation’s economic policy in the past eight years, she said. The “five plus two” innovative industries policy, “six core strategic industries” initiative and infrastructure projects have grown the national industry and established resilient supply chains that withstood the COVID-19 pandemic, Tsai said. Taiwan has improved investment conditions of the domestic economy
Sales in the retail, and food and beverage sectors last month continued to rise, increasing 0.7 percent and 13.6 percent respectively from a year earlier, setting record highs for the month of March, the Ministry of Economic Affairs said yesterday. Sales in the wholesale sector also grew last month by 4.6 annually, mainly due to the business opportunities for emerging applications related to artificial intelligence (AI) and high-performance computing technologies, the ministry said in a report. The ministry forecast that retail, and food and beverage sales this month would retain their growth momentum as the former would benefit from Tomb Sweeping Day