Asian currencies fell for a fourth week, the longest stretch of losses this year, on speculation Europe’s debt crisis would stall the global economic recovery and hurt demand for the region’s exports.
Official reports this week showed China’s manufacturing probably contracted for a seventh month this month, Taiwan’s overseas shipments and factory output declined, and Malaysia grew at the slowest pace last quarter since June.
India’s rupee reached a record low even after the central bank took measures to boost US dollar supply to alleviate pressure on the currency.
“You still have massive problems in Europe and there are a lot of concerns about the slowdown in China,” said Thomas Harr, the Singapore-based head of Asian foreign-exchange strategy at Standard Chartered PLC. “There’s pressure on all Asian currencies at the moment.”
India’s rupee slid 1.7 percent this week to 55.3750 per US dollar in Mumbai, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. The Philippine peso weakened 1.2 percent to 43.755, Thailand’s baht lost 1.1 percent to 31.69, China’s yuan slipped 0.2 percent to 6.3439 and the New Taiwan dollar edged down 0.1 percent to NT$29.650.
The Bloomberg-JPMorgan Asia Dollar Index, which tracks the region’s 10 most-traded currencies excluding the yen, dropped 0.5 percent this week and touched 114.21 on Friday, the lowest level since Dec. 15. Funds based abroad pulled US$1.9 billion from equity markets in Taiwan, South Korea, Indonesia and Thailand this week, exchange data show.
China’s biggest lenders may miss their loan targets for the first time in at least seven years as the slowdown crimps credit, according to three bank officials with knowledge of the matter, who declined to be identified because they are not permitted to speak publicly.
Banks’ total new loans for this year will be about 7 trillion yuan (US$1.1 trillion), less than the government goal of 8 trillion yuan to 8.5 trillion yuan, one of the officials said.
Greece is heading for a second election on June 17 after an inconclusive vote this month ignited concern it may quit the euro.
“The downside risks to China’s growth are greater now as European leaders can’t make progress on solving their debt problems,” said Stella Lee, president of Success Futures & Foreign Exchange Ltd in Hong Kong. “The weak loan growth and the uncertainty in Europe are going to put yuan appreciation to a halt.”
The rupee fell to a record low of 56.3875 per US dollar on Thursday, prompting central bank Governor Duvvuri Subbarao to say policymakers would take the required steps to curb swings in the exchange rate.
Elsewhere, South Korea’s won fell 1.1 percent this week to 1,185.43 per US dollar. Malaysia’s ringgit dropped 0.6 percent to 3.1535 and earlier touched 3.1736, the lowest since Jan. 3, while Indonesia’s rupiah declined 1.3 percent to 9,474.
Taiwan’s rapidly aging population is fueling a sharp increase in homes occupied solely by elderly people, a trend that is reshaping the nation’s housing market and social fabric, real-estate brokers said yesterday. About 850,000 residences were occupied by elderly people in the first quarter, including 655,000 that housed only one resident, the Ministry of the Interior said. The figures have nearly doubled from a decade earlier, Great Home Realty Co (大家房屋) said, as people aged 65 and older now make up 20.8 percent of the population. “The so-called silver tsunami represents more than just a demographic shift — it could fundamentally redefine the
The US government on Wednesday sanctioned more than two dozen companies in China, Turkey and the United Arab Emirates, including offshoots of a US chip firm, accusing the businesses of providing illicit support to Iran’s military or proxies. The US Department of Commerce included two subsidiaries of US-based chip distributor Arrow Electronics Inc (艾睿電子) on its so-called entity list published on the federal register for facilitating purchases by Iran’s proxies of US tech. Arrow spokesman John Hourigan said that the subsidiaries have been operating in full compliance with US export control regulations and his company is discussing with the US Bureau of
Businesses across the global semiconductor supply chain are bracing themselves for disruptions from an escalating trade war, after China imposed curbs on rare earth mineral exports and the US responded with additional tariffs and restrictions on software sales to the Asian nation. China’s restrictions, the most targeted move yet to limit supplies of rare earth materials, represent the first major attempt by Beijing to exercise long-arm jurisdiction over foreign companies to target the semiconductor industry, threatening to stall the chips powering the artificial intelligence (AI) boom. They prompted US President Donald Trump on Friday to announce that he would impose an additional
Pegatron Corp (和碩), a key assembler of Apple Inc’s iPhones, on Thursday reported a 12.3 percent year-on-year decline in revenue for last quarter to NT$257.86 billion (US$8.44 billion), but it expects revenue to improve in the second half on traditional holiday demand. The fourth quarter is usually the peak season for its communications products, a company official said on condition of anonymity. As Apple released its new iPhone 17 series early last month, sales in the communications segment rose sequentially last month, the official said. Shipments to Apple have been stable and in line with earlier expectations, they said. Pegatron shipped 2.4 million notebook
RSS