The euro had its largest weekly advance against the greenback in six months as the US Federal Reserve signaled it was increasing likely to try to stimulate economic growth and amid growing optimism Europe’s leaders would contain the debt crisis.
The 17-nation shared currency gained for a second week as German Chancellor Angela Merkel said she wanted Greece to stay in the monetary union and that her nation was ready to help the Greek government take the needed steps to resolve its economic woes.
The euro on Friday snapped four days of gains after European Central Bank President Mario Draghi’s plan to buy government bonds was said to be held up pending a German court ruling. US Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke is to speak on Friday in Jackson Hole, Wyoming, where he may clarify his thinking on the need for stimulus.
“The Fed’s dovish tone definitely put people on watch,” Brian Kim, a currency strategist at Royal Bank of Scotland Group PLC in Stamford Connecticut, said in a telephone interview on Friday. “That meeting took place before the latest payroll data, before the latest consumer spending data. People said, well, we have to take that into consideration. It definitely puts more onus on the Jackson Hole speech.”
The euro rose 1.4 percent this week to US$1.2512, its largest weekly gain since the five days ended Feb. 24. The shared currency climbed to US$1.2590 on Thursday, the strongest since July 4. The euro gained 0.3 percent to ¥98.44, the second weekly advance. The dollar weakened 1.1 percent to ¥78.67.
Meanwhile, Australia’s dollar fell against 12 of its 16 major peers for the week as a report showed China’s manufacturing may contract at a faster pace.
“Australia’s dollar has really been underperforming today after weak Chinese data,” Eric Viloria, senior currency strategist at Gain Capital Group LLC in New York, said in a telephone interview on Thursday. “It’s looking a bit heavy here.”
The pound strengthened 0.8 percent this week to US$1.5820 and declined 0.8 percent to £0.7924 per euro.
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
Thousands of parents in Singapore are furious after a Cordlife Group Ltd (康盛人生集團), a major operator of cord blood banks in Asia, irreparably damaged their children’s samples through improper handling, with some now pursuing legal action. The ongoing case, one of the worst to hit the largely untested industry, has renewed concerns over companies marketing themselves to anxious parents with mostly unproven assurances. This has implications across the region, given Cordlife’s operations in Hong Kong, Macau, Indonesia, the Philippines and India. The parents paid for years to have their infants’ cord blood stored, with the understanding that the stem cells they contained