Asian currencies advanced, paring weekly losses, after China’s central bank set the yuan’s rate at a record high, boosting the outlook for exports to the world’s second-biggest economy.
The Bloomberg-JPMorgan Asia Dollar Index snapped a three-day drop as the People’s Bank of China set the reference rate 0.18 percent stronger. China is the largest overseas market for Taiwan, Thailand and South Korea.
“If China’s policy is to boost domestic demand, ultimately the currency needs to appreciate,” said Nizam Idris, a Singapore-based strategist at Macquarie Group Ltd. “An appreciating currency boosts domestic purchasing power, which would be supportive of consumption.”
The ringgit gained 0.5 percent on Friday, the most in two weeks, to 3.0768 per US dollar in Kuala Lumpur, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. The Thai baht climbed 0.2 percent to 30.77 and the Philippine peso rose 0.2 percent to 42.963 against the greenback.
The Bloomberg-JPMorgan Asia Dollar Index extended losses for the week to 0.5 percent. The gauge’s 60-day historical volatility rose to 3.5 percent from 3.45 percent last week.
The yuan fell 0.1 percent on Friday and strengthened 0.2 percent this week to 6.3078 per US dollar. The currency gained 0.17 percent in the last 30 minutes of trading on Thursday, spurring speculation the monetary authority was buying the yuan.
“The fixing is such a surprise,” said Liu Dongliang, a senior analyst at China Merchants Bank (招商銀行), the nation’s sixth-biggest lender, in Shenzhen, China. “The central bank is probably trying to remind the market appreciation isn’t over yet.”
The New Taiwan dollar was steady on Friday and lost 0.1 percent this week to NT$29.585 per US dollar.
The ringgit pared its weekly decline to 0.5 percent. Malaysia’s GDP may rise 4 percent to 5 percent this year, Bank Negara Malaysia said on Wednesday, lower than a prediction of 5 percent to 6 percent the finance ministry made in October and an increase of 5.1 percent last year.
The baht fell 0.1 percent during the week. Global funds poured a net US$834 million into local equities this month through Thursday, according to exchange data. The Thai economy is forecast to expand 5.7 percent this year, compared with a previous estimate of 4.9 percent, central bank Assistant Governor Paiboon Kittisrikangwan said on Wednesday.
The Philippine peso advanced after Philippine Finance Secretary Cesar Purisima said he was confident that a credit rating upgrade from Standard and Poor’s may come sooner than later, he said in a briefing in Manila on Friday.
Elsewhere, the South Korean won fell 0.4 percent on Friday and 0.9 percent this week to 1,135.35 per US dollar.
India’s rupee fell 2 percent this week through Thursday to 51.22. The nation’s currency markets were closed for a public holiday yesterday.
A proposed 100 percent tariff on chip imports announced by US President Donald Trump could shift more of Taiwan’s semiconductor production overseas, a Taiwan Institute of Economic Research (TIER) researcher said yesterday. Trump’s tariff policy will accelerate the global semiconductor industry’s pace to establish roots in the US, leading to higher supply chain costs and ultimately raising prices of consumer electronics and creating uncertainty for future market demand, Arisa Liu (劉佩真) at the institute’s Taiwan Industry Economics Database said in a telephone interview. Trump’s move signals his intention to "restore the glory of the US semiconductor industry," Liu noted, saying that
On Ireland’s blustery western seaboard, researchers are gleefully flying giant kites — not for fun, but in the hope of generating renewable electricity and sparking a “revolution” in wind energy. “We use a kite to capture the wind and a generator at the bottom of it that captures the power,” said Padraic Doherty of Kitepower, the Dutch firm behind the venture. At its test site in operation since September 2023 near the small town of Bangor Erris, the team transports the vast 60-square-meter kite from a hangar across the lunar-like bogland to a generator. The kite is then attached by a
Foxconn Technology Co (鴻準精密), a metal casing supplier owned by Hon Hai Precision Industry Co (鴻海精密), yesterday announced plans to invest US$1 billion in the US over the next decade as part of its business transformation strategy. The Apple Inc supplier said in a statement that its board approved the investment on Thursday, as part of a transformation strategy focused on precision mold development, smart manufacturing, robotics and advanced automation. The strategy would have a strong emphasis on artificial intelligence (AI), the company added. The company said it aims to build a flexible, intelligent production ecosystem to boost competitiveness and sustainability. Foxconn
STILL UNCLEAR: Several aspects of the policy still need to be clarified, such as whether the exemptions would expand to related products, PwC Taiwan warned The TAIEX surged yesterday, led by gains in Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電), after US President Donald Trump announced a sweeping 100 percent tariff on imported semiconductors — while exempting companies operating or building plants in the US, which includes TSMC. The benchmark index jumped 556.41 points, or 2.37 percent, to close at 24,003.77, breaching the 24,000-point level and hitting its highest close this year, Taiwan Stock Exchange (TWSE) data showed. TSMC rose NT$55, or 4.89 percent, to close at a record NT$1,180, as the company is already investing heavily in a multibillion-dollar plant in Arizona that led investors to assume
RSS