The euro rose this week for the first time in seven weeks after bets that the 17-nation currency would weaken reached a record and as member nations’ borrowing costs fell at bond auctions, mitigating debt-crisis pessimism.
“The development with European borrowing costs, how they continued their descent, that took some pressure off the single currency,” said Joe Manimbo, a market analyst in Washington at Travelex Global Business Payments, a currency-exchange network. “Talk that the IMF is considering a bigger lending facility to help protect the global economy helped fan risk appetite.”
The euro rose 2 percent to US$1.2931, the biggest weekly gain since Oct. 14. It reached US$1.2986 on Friday, the highest level since Jan. 4. The common currency appreciated 2.1 percent to ￥99.62, after reaching an 11-year low of ￥97.04 Jan. 16. The US dollar was little changed against the yen at ￥77.01.
The Dollar Index, which IntercontinentalExchange Inc uses to track the greenback against the currencies of six major US trading partners, fell 1.6 percent to 80.157. It touched 79.999, its lowest level since Jan. 4.
Sweden’s krona added 3 percent to 6.7826 per US dollar.
The pound posted its biggest weekly decline against the euro in almost three months.
The pound weakened 0.5 percent to ￡0.8321 per euro on Friday, the biggest weekly drop since Oct. 28. It gained 1.5 percent to ￥119.60 on Friday, snapping a three-week slide. It gained 1.4 percent against the greenback to US$1.5538.
The Swiss franc fell against the US dollar, weakening 0.4 percent to SF0.9357 at 9:43am London time on Friday.
The currency gained 0.1 percent to 1.2077 per euro.
The US dollar was trading at NT$29.7 at 10am today on the Taipei Foreign Exchange, as the New Taiwan dollar gained NT$1.364 from the previous close last week. The NT dollar continued to rise today, after surging 3.07 percent on Friday. After opening at NT$30.91, the NT dollar gained more than NT$1 in just 15 minutes, briefly passing the NT$30 mark. Before the US Department of the Treasury's semi-annual currency report came out, expectations that the NT dollar would keep rising were already building. The NT dollar on Friday closed at NT$31.064, up by NT$0.953 — a 3.07 percent single-day gain. Today,
‘SHORT TERM’: The local currency would likely remain strong in the near term, driven by anticipated US trade pressure, capital inflows and expectations of a US Fed rate cut The US dollar is expected to fall below NT$30 in the near term, as traders anticipate increased pressure from Washington for Taiwan to allow the New Taiwan dollar to appreciate, Cathay United Bank (國泰世華銀行) chief economist Lin Chi-chao (林啟超) said. Following a sharp drop in the greenback against the NT dollar on Friday, Lin told the Central News Agency that the local currency is likely to remain strong in the short term, driven in part by market psychology surrounding anticipated US policy pressure. On Friday, the US dollar fell NT$0.953, or 3.07 percent, closing at NT$31.064 — its lowest level since Jan.
The New Taiwan dollar and Taiwanese stocks surged on signs that trade tensions between the world’s top two economies might start easing and as US tech earnings boosted the outlook of the nation’s semiconductor exports. The NT dollar strengthened as much as 3.8 percent versus the US dollar to 30.815, the biggest intraday gain since January 2011, closing at NT$31.064. The benchmark TAIEX jumped 2.73 percent to outperform the region’s equity gauges. Outlook for global trade improved after China said it is assessing possible trade talks with the US, providing a boost for the nation’s currency and shares. As the NT dollar
The Financial Supervisory Commission (FSC) yesterday met with some of the nation’s largest insurance companies as a skyrocketing New Taiwan dollar piles pressure on their hundreds of billions of dollars in US bond investments. The commission has asked some life insurance firms, among the biggest Asian holders of US debt, to discuss how the rapidly strengthening NT dollar has impacted their operations, people familiar with the matter said. The meeting took place as the NT dollar jumped as much as 5 percent yesterday, its biggest intraday gain in more than three decades. The local currency surged as exporters rushed to
RSS