The NT dollar pared a drop on speculation the central bank bought currency after as many as 30,000 people protested over Saturday's election because of what the opposition said were irregularities with the way the poll was conducted.
The NT dollar weakened 0.1 percent to close at NT$33.285 against its US counterpart, after sliding as low as NT$33.353, according to the Taipei foreign exchange market.
"The island is in a situation where nothing is certain, so investors' first reaction is to buy US dollars,'' said Joseph Lee, a Taipei-based currency trader at Cathay United Bank (國泰銀行).
Trading volume exceeded US$1 billion in the first 45 minutes of trading, exceeding the daily average this year through yesterday of US$842 million.
By the close of trading, about US$2.793 billion changed hands, the biggest amount since Jan. 15, 1999, when Bloomberg data first tracked turnover.
The volume spurred speculation that the central bank may be defending the currency from weakening further.
Foreign exchange reserves, which the central bank can use to support its currency, rose to a record US$224.8 billion last month.
The central bank "can hold the NT dollar for as long as they want," said Erik Herzfeld, head of J.P. Morgan Chase and Co options dealing in Singapore.
Vice Premier Lin Hsin-i (
A spokesperson for central bank Governor Perng Fai-nan (
Until US President Donald Trump’s return a year ago, when the EU talked about cutting economic dependency on foreign powers — it was understood to mean China, but now Brussels has US tech in its sights. As Trump ramps up his threats — from strong-arming Europe on trade to pushing to seize Greenland — concern has grown that the unpredictable leader could, should he so wish, plunge the bloc into digital darkness. Since Trump’s Greenland climbdown, top officials have stepped up warnings that the EU is dangerously exposed to geopolitical shocks and must work toward strategic independence — in defense, energy and
For the second year in a row, a Brazilian movie has wowed international audiences and critics, securing multiple Oscar nominations and drawing fresh interest in the Latin American giant’s film industry. Experts say the success of The Secret Agent, which has won four Oscar nominations, a year after I Am Still Here won Brazil its first Oscar, is no fluke, with a bit of a push from the country’s political climate. “This is neither a coincidence nor a miracle. It is the result of a lot of work, consistent policies, and, of course, talent,” Ilda Santiago, director of the Rio International Film
AI SPLURGE: The four major US tech companies have lost more than US$950 billion in value since releasing earnings and outlooks, while equipment makers were gaining Four of the biggest US technology companies together have forecast capital expenditures that would reach about US$650 billion this year — a flood of cash earmarked for new data centers and all the gear within them. The spending planned by Alphabet Inc, Amazon.com Inc, Meta Platforms Inc and Microsoft Corp, all in pursuit of dominance in the still-nascent market for artificial intelligence (AI) tools, is a boom without a parallel this century. Each of the companies’ estimates for this year is expected either near or surpass their budgets for the past three years combined. They would set a high-watermark for capital spending
IShowSpeed, a 21-year-old African-American influencer, has raced a cheetah, leapt with Maasai warriors and drawn huge crowds in a month-long tour of Africa that has also busted cliches about the continent. The YouTube and Twitch star’s tour, which started on Dec. 29 last year, took him to 20 countries, showing his tens of millions of followers a different side of Africa as he visited a diamond mine in Botswana, discovered Ethiopia’s rich cuisine and attended the Africa Cup of Nations football final in Morocco. IShowSpeed — born in Cincinnati, Ohio as Darren Jason Watkins Jr. — is one of the most followed
RSS