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Taiwan's trade surplus lags those of neighbors

Taiwan lagged neighboring countries in racking up trade surplus in the first five months of the year, an indication that there will not be much room for the local currency to appreciate further, according to the newest tallies compiled by the nation's central bank.

Statistics made public on Wednesday by the central bank in Taipei show that the country had a total trade surplus of US$549 million for the first five months of this year, well behind China, Japan, Singapore and South Korea.

Japan had a trade surplus of nearly US$34.6 billion in the January-to-May period, while China followed with about US$30 billion. South Korea and Singapore had US$10.3 billion and US$6.08 billion, respectively.

Taiwan's weaker performance in foreign trade means that the country's supply of US dollars is tight, leaving little room for the New Taiwan dollar to further gain in value against the greenback, central bank officials said.

The NT dollar yesterday closed NT$0.004 lower at NT$31.359 against the US dollar on the Taipei foreign-exchange market. Turnover was US$616 million, down from US$666 million the previous day.

The NT dollar may rise in coming days after global investors bought the most stocks in almost a week.

Overseas money managers yesterday bought a net NT$1.3 billion (US$41 million) of the nation's shares, the biggest amount since June 17 and only the second time this month that net purchases exceeded NT$1 billion, according to stock exchange figures.
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