The US dollar rose against most of its major peers as US Treasury yields made the biggest jump in almost a year, inciting demand for the US currency.
The euro pared a five-day loss versus the greenback on bets that Ireland will get a bailout from its financial crisis, preventing contagion across the region’s debt markets. The yen fell for a third straight week against its US counterpart, the longest losing streak this year. The US economy grew at a 2.4 percent annual rate last quarter, data next week may show.
“Yields have been very, very helpful in lifting sentiment toward the dollar,” said Andrew Wilkinson, senior market analyst at Interactive Brokers Group LLC in Greenwich, Connecticut. “Good economic data is going to boost the dollar, boost yields.”
The greenback gained against 10 of its 16 most-traded counterparts.
The dollar gained as a report this week showed Philadelphia-area manufacturing expanded. The Philadelphia Fed’s general economic index climbed to a reading of 22.5, more than four times the forecast in a Bloomberg News survey.
IntercontinentalExchange Inc’s Dollar Index, used to track the currency against those of six major US trading partners, rose for a second week in the first back-to-back weekly increase since August. It advanced 0.5 percent to 78.504 in New York.
The dollar climbed 1.2 percent to ¥83.55 on Friday, from ¥82.53 on Nov. 12, and reached ¥83.79 yen on Thursday, the highest level since Oct. 5.
The greenback rose 0.1 percent to US$1.3673 per euro, from US$1.3691 on Nov. 12. The euro gained 1.1 percent to ¥114.23, from ¥113.02 the week before.
The pound fell versus the euro for the first week in a month as prospects for a bailout of Ireland and speculation that the nation’s debt crisis will hurt British banks reduced demand for the UK currency as a haven.
Sterling also posted a weekly decline versus the dollar. The pound had risen 4.7 percent against the shared currency from Oct. 25 to Monday.
The pound weakened to £0.8551 per euro as of 4:30pm in London on Friday, a weekly decline of 0.6 percent. Sterling lost 1 percent versus the dollar to US$1.5950.
The currencies of commodity exporting countries including New Zealand, Mexico, Brazil and Australia rose against most of their major counterparts as prospects for Europe’s sovereign-debt turmoil to ease fueled investors’ appetite for risk.
ASIAN CURRENCIES
Asian exchange rates dropped this week on concern governments will impose controls to curb capital inflows. South Korea’s finance ministry said on Thursday it backs legislation for a tax on bonds.
South Korea’s currency appreciated 0.1 percent to 1,133.65 won per US dollar in Seoul, reducing its decline this week to 0.5 percent, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. Malaysia’s ringgit rose 0.2 percent to RM3.1174, paring the drop in the past five days to 0.2 percent. The Thai baht was little changed at 29.94 baht and was down 0.6 percent for the week.
Seoul will back legislation reinstating a 14 percent tax on interest income from treasury and central bank bonds and a 20 percent capital gains levy on their sale, the finance ministry said on Thursday.
Taiwan’s currency strengthened after the economy expanded more than forecast in the third quarter. The currency climbed 0.2 percent to NT$30.673, taking the week’s gain to 0.3 percent.
GDP rose 9.8 percent in the third quarter from a year earlier, the government reported after the close of trading on Friday.
“Taiwan’s economy is in very good shape and it will continue to attract hot money,” said Juan Hao-yun, a Taipei currency trader at King’s Town Bank (京城銀行). “This puts more pressure on the central bank to stem gains in the currency.”
The NT dollar has appreciated 5.5 percent this year as data show overseas funds bought US$6.3 billion more Taiwanese stocks than they sold during the period.
Elsewhere, the Philippine peso dropped 0.2 percent to 43.81 pesos. Indonesia’s rupiah lost 0.1 percent to Rp8,933 and the Indian rupee declined 0.9 percent to Rs45.19.
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],”