The New Taiwan dollar rebounded from a three-year low yesterday as US stock gains bolstered demand for emerging-market assets.
The local currency strengthened the most this month, rising in tandem with most of the region’s currencies. The Standard & Poor’s 500 Index climbed 4.4 percent on Wednesday on speculation that US President Barack Obama’s stimulus plan would include a US$50 billion-plus program to stem foreclosures and inject capital into banks.
The NT dollar gained 0.3 percent to close at NT$33.55 versus the greenback yesterday, its steepest climb since Dec. 30, Taipei Forex Inc said.
Turnover reached US$644 million, down from USS$1.01 billion the previous day.
Earlier yesterday, the local currency touched NT$33.79, the lowest level since October 2005. Local financial markets are closed until Feb. 2 for the Lunar New Year holiday.
“US stock markets rallied overnight, and the Asian currencies are tracking that,” said Maya Pinto, an economist at IDEAglobal in Singapore.
“Even if there’s an improvement in these currencies, it’d be more of a short-term phenomenon. Our forecast is for Asian currencies to maintain a weak bias because the data is going to be very ugly in the region,” Pinto said.
Export orders, a guide to shipments in the next one to three months, are expected to drop a record 37 percent last month from a year earlier, economists forecast in a Bloomberg News survey.
Taiwan will release its data on export orders today. Overseas sales account for about 70 percent of Taiwan’s GDP.
The local currency and overseas sales may weaken after China reported its economy expanded at the slowest pace in seven years. GDP grew 6.8 percent in the fourth quarter from a year earlier, matching the median estimate in a Bloomberg News survey. China is Taiwan’s largest export market.
Quanta Computer Inc (廣達) chairman Barry Lam (林百里) is expected to share his views about the artificial intelligence (AI) industry’s prospects during his speech at the company’s 37th anniversary ceremony, as AI servers have become a new growth engine for the equipment manufacturing service provider. Lam’s speech is much anticipated, as Quanta has risen as one of the world’s major AI server suppliers. The company reported a 30 percent year-on-year growth in consolidated revenue to NT$1.41 trillion (US$43.35 billion) last year, thanks to fast-growing demand for servers, especially those with AI capabilities. The company told investors in November last year that
Intel Corp has named Tasha Chuang (莊蓓瑜) to lead Intel Taiwan in a bid to reinforce relations between the company and its Taiwanese partners. The appointment of Chuang as general manager for Intel Taiwan takes effect on Thursday, the firm said in a statement yesterday. Chuang is to lead her team in Taiwan to pursue product development and sales growth in an effort to reinforce the company’s ties with its partners and clients, Intel said. Chuang was previously in charge of managing Intel’s ties with leading Taiwanese PC brand Asustek Computer Inc (華碩), which included helping Asustek strengthen its global businesses, the company
Taiwanese suppliers to Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. (TSMC, 台積電) are expected to follow the contract chipmaker’s step to invest in the US, but their relocation may be seven to eight years away, Minister of Economic Affairs J.W. Kuo (郭智輝) said yesterday. When asked by opposition Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Legislator Niu Hsu-ting (牛煦庭) in the legislature about growing concerns that TSMC’s huge investments in the US will prompt its suppliers to follow suit, Kuo said based on the chipmaker’s current limited production volume, it is unlikely to lead its supply chain to go there for now. “Unless TSMC completes its planned six
TikTok abounds with viral videos accusing prestigious brands of secretly manufacturing luxury goods in China so they can be sold at cut prices. However, while these “revelations” are spurious, behind them lurks a well-oiled machine for selling counterfeit goods that is making the most of the confusion surrounding trade tariffs. Chinese content creators who portray themselves as workers or subcontractors in the luxury goods business claim that Beijing has lifted confidentiality clauses on local subcontractors as a way to respond to the huge hike in customs duties imposed on China by US President Donald Trump. They say this Chinese decision, of which Agence
RSS