The New Taiwan dollar had its biggest advance in seven weeks as traders bet the central bank would be more inclined to let its currency gain after the yen rose for a fifth day in New York.
A stronger yen may reduce pressure on Taiwan's central bank to depreciate its currency to help exporters. The NT dollar failed to react to China's reaction on President Chen Shui-bian's (
"China's reaction isn't very surprising and within expectations, so it didn't adversely affect the Taiwan dollar," said Matt Lin, a foreign-exchange analyst at Hua Nan Commercial Bank (華南銀行). "The central bank probably won't sell the Taiwan dollar unless there's a lot of volatility."
The NT dollar rose NT$0.172 to close at NT$32.283 against its US counterpart on the Taipei Forex Inc. Yesterday's gains were the largest since Jan. 12. Financial markets in Taiwan were closed on Tuesday for a national holiday.
The NT dollar may rise to NT$32.20 this week, Lin said.
Meanwhile, China's currency rose to the highest level since last year's revaluation as US Treasury Undersecretary Tim Adams called on Beijing to allow the yuan to trade more freely.
"We think greater flexibility is in the best interests of China," Adams told reporters in Tokyo yesterday. "It would be a positive development for China's economy."
The yuan strengthened past 8.04 to the US dollar for the first time since the 2.1 percent revaluation on July 21, when the central bank said the yuan would be able to move 0.3 percent either side of a daily fixing rate. Gains have been less than 0.1 percent since.
Taiwan Transport and Storage Corp (TTS, 台灣通運倉儲) yesterday unveiled its first electric tractor unit — manufactured by Volvo Trucks — in a ceremony in Taipei, and said the unit would soon be used to transport cement produced by Taiwan Cement Corp (TCC, 台灣水泥). Both TTS and TCC belong to TCC International Holdings Ltd (台泥國際集團). With the electric tractor unit, the Taipei-based cement firm would become the first in Taiwan to use electric vehicles to transport construction materials. TTS chairman Koo Kung-yi (辜公怡), Volvo Trucks vice president of sales and marketing Johan Selven, TCC president Roman Cheng (程耀輝) and Taikoo Motors Group
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
RECORD-BREAKING: TSMC’s net profit last quarter beat market expectations by expanding 8.9% and it was the best first-quarter profit in the chipmaker’s history Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電), which counts Nvidia Corp as a key customer, yesterday said that artificial intelligence (AI) server chip revenue is set to more than double this year from last year amid rising demand. The chipmaker expects the growth momentum to continue in the next five years with an annual compound growth rate of 50 percent, TSMC chief executive officer C.C. Wei (魏哲家) told investors yesterday. By 2028, AI chips’ contribution to revenue would climb to about 20 percent from a percentage in the low teens, Wei said. “Almost all the AI innovators are working with TSMC to address the
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],”