The US dollar weakened on currency markets on Friday after holding its own during the week against the impact of disappointing US economic data.
The euro rose to US$1.2825 around 10pm GMT against US$1.2793 late on Thursday in New York. The dollar was lower at ¥117.71, down from ¥118.20 on Thursday.
The greenback had managed to rise throughout the week despite soft US economic data including retail sales and inflation.
Initially on Friday, it even brushed aside a hefty drop of 14.6 percent in US housing starts last month to a six-year low of 1.486 million units.
"The dollar's been incredibly resilient in the course of the week, and we're just seeing some end-of-week closing," said Ian Stannard, currency strategist at BNP Paribas.
Traders were also closing out positions in anticipation of a quiet week ahead, which will be shortened in the US because of Thanksgiving Day celebrations on Thursday.
"After a raft of economic indicators, the markets will have little US data to trade on during this holiday-shortened week," Calyon analyst Michael Carey said.
The greenback has been underpinned by hawkish comments from US Federal Reserve officials as well as the minutes to the Fed's last rate-setting meeting last month, when policymakers left their benchmark rate at 5.25 percent.
The pound stood at US$1.8953 in late trade, up from US$1.8876 on Thursday. The US dollar bought 1.2437 Swiss francs, from SF1.2479.
The US currency rose against the New Taiwan dollar in Taipei on Friday, gaining NT$0.091 to close at NT$32.934.
WASHINGTON’S INCENTIVES: The CHIPS Act set aside US$39 billion in direct grants to persuade the world’s top semiconductor companies to make chips on US soil The US plans to award more than US$6 billion to Samsung Electronics Co, helping the chipmaker expand beyond a project in Texas it has already announced, people familiar with the matter said. The money from the 2022 CHIPS and Science Act would be one of several major awards that the US Department of Commerce is expected to announce in the coming weeks, including a grant of more than US$5 billion to Samsung’s rival, Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電), people familiar with the plans said. The people spoke on condition of anonymity in advance of the official announcements. The federal funding for
HIGH DEMAND: The firm has strong capabilities of providing key components including liquid cooling technology needed for AI servers, chairman Young Liu said Hon Hai Precision Industry Co (鴻海精密) yesterday revised its revenue outlook for this year to “significant” growth from a “neutral” view forecast five months ago, due to strong demand for artificial intelligence (AI) servers from cloud service providers. Hon Hai, a major assembler of iPhones that is also known as Foxconn, expects AI server revenues to soar more than 40 percent annually this year, chairman Young Liu (劉揚偉) told investors. The robust growth would uplift revenue contribution from AI servers to 40 percent of the company’s overall server revenue this year, from 30 percent last year, Liu said. In the three-year period
LONG HAUL: Largan Energy Materials’ TNO-based lithium-ion batteries are expected to charge in five minutes and last about 20 years, far surpassing conventional technology Largan Precision Co (大立光) has formed a joint venture with the Industrial Technology Research Institute (ITRI, 工研院) to produce fast-charging, long-life lithium-ion batteries for electric vehicles, mobile electronics and electric storage units, the camera lens supplier for Apple Inc’s iPhones said yesterday. Largan Energy Materials Co (萬溢能源材料), established in January, is developing high-energy, fast-charging, long-life lithium-ion batteries using titanium niobium oxide (TNO) anodes, it said. TNO-based batteries can be fully charged in five minutes and have a lifespan of 20 years, a major advantage over the two to four hours of charging time needed for conventional graphite-anode-based batteries, Largan said in a
Taiwan is one of the first countries to benefit from the artificial intelligence (AI) boom, but because that is largely down to a single company it also represents a risk, former Google Taiwan managing director Chien Lee-feng (簡立峰) said at an AI forum in Taipei yesterday. Speaking at the forum on how generative AI can generate possibilities for all walks of life, Chien said Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) — currently among the world’s 10 most-valuable companies due to continued optimism about AI — ensures Taiwan is one of the economies to benefit most from AI. “This is because AI is