The euro rose against all its major counterparts as speculation increased that European policy makers will craft a long-term approach to handle the region’s -sovereign-debt crisis.
The NT dollar rose 0.6 percent this week to NT$29.42 against the greenback, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.
The 17-nation euro advanced the most against the currencies of -commodity-exporting countries, such as the South African rand and New Zealand dollar, on concern China will take more measures to cool economic growth, curbing appetite for raw materials. Canada’s dollar weakened, touching parity with its US counterpart, after the nation’s central bank held interest rates unchanged. The US dollar fell against the euro before a Federal Reserve policy meeting next week.
“There’s still a degree of optimism that the leaders will deliver something on the European Financial Stability Facility fund,” said Alan Ruskin, global head of G10 foreign exchange strategy at Deutsche Bank AG in New York.
The euro rose 1.7 percent to US$1.3621, from US$1.3388 on Jan. 14. It touched US$1.3626 on Friday, the highest since Nov. 23. The 17--nation currency climbed 1.4 percent to ¥112.48, from ¥110.94 last week. The dollar fell 0.4 percent to ¥82.57, from ¥82.87.
CHINA GROWTH
China’s economic growth quickened to an annual rate of 9.8 percent in the fourth quarter, up from 9.6 percent in the prior three months, the statistics bureau said in Beijing. Consumer prices rose 4.6 percent in last month from a year earlier, compared with 5.1 percent the previous month.
“The market remains cautious on the outlook for commodity currencies,” said Omer Esiner, chief market analyst in Washington at Commonwealth Foreign Exchange Inc, a currency brokerage. “There’s a pretty strong concern around the outlook for China to continue tightening monetary and credit conditions in order to keep a lid on inflation pressures. That raises the risk of a potential hard landing for a key engine of the global recovery.”
South Africa’s rand, the worst performer against the euro this week, lost 3.6 percent to 9.6124 per euro, from 9.2821 on Jan. 14. The New Zealand dollar dropped 2.7 percent to 1.7943 per euro.
The loonie, as Canada’s currency is also known, weakened 0.2 percent to C$0.9931 after touching C$0.9838 on Tuesday, the strongest level since May 2008. It reached C$1.0031 on Thursday, the weakest level since Jan. 4.
The Swiss franc dropped 1.2 percent to 1.3055 per euro, from 1.2899 on Jan. 14.
The Dollar Index, which tracks the greenback against the currencies of six major US trading partners including the euro, yen and pound, fell 1.3 percent to 78.124, from 79.162 on Jan. 14.
Asian currencies fell this week, led by South Korea’s won and the Philippine peso, on speculation overseas funds are shifting money from the region as inflation gathers pace.
The won declined 0.9 percent this week to 1,124.10 per US dollar and the peso weakened 0.6 percent to 44.485, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. Thailand’s baht dropped 0.7 percent to 30.69 and Indonesia’s rupiah was little changed at 9,063 after falling to more than a one-week low of 9,105. China’s yuan strengthened 0.1 percent to 6.5833.
Elsewhere, Singapore’s dollar climbed 0.3 percent to S$1.2850 and Malaysia’s ringgit was little changed at 3.0600.
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],”
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
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