The central bank will continue to put on brakes on the NT dollar's appreciation, which shot to a 32-month high yesterday, as too rapid a rise could hurt exporter profits and competitiveness, dealers said.
However, predictions of a stronger currency are unlikely to ebb soon, as high expectations over stock market prospects after next month's presidential election continued to attract overseas capital, bolstering the NT dollar's strength, they said.
"Judging from the close of NTD-USD non-deliverable forward trading today [yesterday], the local currency still has room for appreciation," said a dealer, who said the NT dollar reflected market speculation of at least a gain against the greenback of between NT$0.12 and NT$0.15 in one week and NT$0.340 and NT$0.395 in one month.
Such anticipation has also triggered selling pressure on the greenback from exporters, a veteran dealer said.
The NT dollar yesterday gained NT$0.107 to close at NT$31.3880 against the greenback -- a new high since NT$31.365 on June 27, 2005.
Yesterday's close was off the intraday high of NT$31.2500 on turnover of US$1.728 billion, up from US$1.512 billion last Friday.
Foreign investors registered NT$17.28 billion in net stock purchases yesterday, a sign that the support for a more liberalized market reaffirmed by both candidates in the presidential debate on Sunday was well-received by investors, dealers said.
Meanwhile, in a central bank briefing yesterday afternoon, economic research division chief Shih Yen (施燕) said continued inflow of foreign capital and a robust stock market performance were likely to lift the annualized growth of M2 market supply from last month's historical low of 1.06 percent. Shih blamed the sluggish increase in last month's M2 money supply on a high base in the same period last year and an economic slowdown.
Central bank data show that last month's M1A money supply grew by 3.26 percent, while the M1B money supply fell by 0.3 percent.
Stephen Garrett, a 27-year-old graduate student, always thought he would study in China, but first the country’s restrictive COVID-19 policies made it nearly impossible and now he has other concerns. The cost is one deterrent, but Garrett is more worried about restrictions on academic freedom and the personal risk of being stranded in China. He is not alone. Only about 700 American students are studying at Chinese universities, down from a peak of nearly 25,000 a decade ago, while there are nearly 300,000 Chinese students at US schools. Some young Americans are discouraged from investing their time in China by what they see
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
MAJOR DROP: CEO Tim Cook, who is visiting Hanoi, pledged the firm was committed to Vietnam after its smartphone shipments declined 9.6% annually in the first quarter Apple Inc yesterday said it would increase spending on suppliers in Vietnam, a key production hub, as CEO Tim Cook arrived in the country for a two-day visit. The iPhone maker announced the news in a statement on its Web site, but gave no details of how much it would spend or where the money would go. Cook is expected to meet programmers, content creators and students during his visit, online newspaper VnExpress reported. The visit comes as US President Joe Biden’s administration seeks to ramp up Vietnam’s role in the global tech supply chain to reduce the US’ dependence on China. Images on
New apartments in Taiwan’s major cities are getting smaller, while old apartments are increasingly occupied by older people, many of whom live alone, government data showed. The phenomenon has to do with sharpening unaffordable property prices and an aging population, property brokers said. Apartments with one bedroom that are two years old or older have gained a noticeable presence in the nation’s six special municipalities as well as Hsinchu county and city in the past five years, Evertrust Rehouse Co (永慶房產集團) found, citing data from the government’s real-price transaction platform. In Taipei, apartments with one bedroom accounted for 19 percent of deals last