The dollar remained weighed down on Friday by concerns that the world's largest economy could lose momentum in future months leading to fresh interest rate cuts.
The lingering worries propelled the euro to a new record high against the US currency of US$1.4967 in Asian trading before the euro retreated in later European and US trading.
The euro stood at US$1.4833 in mid-afternoon trading in New York, marginally lower from US$1.4850 late on Wednesday. The US market was closed on Thursday due to the Thanksgiving Day holiday.
The US currency has fallen sharply this year against other world currencies amid a persistent housing slump and an associated credit squeeze which is buffeting economic growth.
The Federal Reserve's move to cut US interest rates in September and last month also pressured the dollar as speculators generally prefer to invest in countries where interest rates are expected to move higher.
The dollar's demise has triggered concern in European capitals where officials are concerned that the euro's sharp rise against the dollar could dent exports.
In Asia South Korea's won had its biggest weekly decline in three months as overseas investors cut holdings of the nation's stocks on concern credit-market losses will slow global economic growth.
The won touched its lowest point in more than two months on Nov. 22 as stock exchange data showed fund managers abroad sold more of the nation's shares than they bought for 12 straight days, the longest stretch since August. The Kospi stock index completed it biggest weekly slid since the five days to Aug. 17.
The won fell 1.4 percent last week to 930.60 per dollar, according to Seoul Money Brokerage Services Ltd. It was the second straight weekly loss. The currency may weaken to around 942 this week, Yamamoto said.
South Korea's currency fell for a third week against the yen, declining 3.4 percent over the five days to 8.6198, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.
The Taiwan dollar gained ground on the US dollar on the Taipei Foreign Exchange on Friday, gaining NT0.016 to close at NT$32.324. A total of US$964 million changed hands during the day's trading. The US currency opened at NT32.340 and fluctuated between NT$32.321 and NT$32.378.
China's yuan rose beyond 7.4 to the dollar for the first time since a link to the US currency was scrapped in 2005 before a European delegation arrives in Beijing this week to press for faster appreciation.
The People's Bank of China signaled it wanted the yuan to gain as it set the reference rate for the day's trading on Friday at 7.3992 from the close of 7.4145 on Thursday. Xie Fuzhan, a member of the central bank's monetary policy committee, said this week that China's currency is undervalued and increased flexibility is "essential" to make economic growth more stable.
The currency advanced 0.11 percent, the biggest gain in two weeks, to 7.4060 against the dollar in Shanghai from 7.4257 a week ago, according to the China Foreign Exchange Trade System. It reached 7.3912 on Friday, the highest since the end of the dollar link.
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