Asian currencies completed their first weekly loss in more than a month on speculation that the yen’s slide to beyond ¥101 per US dollar will prompt some regional policymakers to weaken their exchange rates to protect exports.
The Bloomberg-JPMorgan Asia Dollar Index lost 0.3 percent since May 3, the first decline since the period ended on April 5, and dropped by the most in nine months on Thursday.
The Bank of Japan’s stimulus measures to fight deflation have contributed to a 15 percent drop in the yen against the US dollar this year, threatening the exports of nations that compete with Japan.
The yen slumped 2.7 percent for the week versus the US dollar to ¥101.62. Japan’s currency slid 1.7 percent percent to ¥132 per euro after reaching ¥132.26, the least since January 2010. The euro dropped 1 percent to US$1.2989.
The yen has dropped 5.2 percent against the greenback since April 4 when Bank of Japan Governor Haruhiko Kuroda exceeded economists’ forecasts by pledging to double monthly bond purchases and buy longer-term debt to reach a 2 percent annual inflation goal.
“With the yen’s weakness, there’s generally downward pressure on regional currencies,” said Yuji Kameoka, chief currency strategist at Daiwa Securities Co in Tokyo.
The New Taiwan dollar declined 0.6 percent this week to NT$29.8 against its US counterpart, the most since January, after a report showed exports weakened, fueling concern that the central bank will curb currency appreciation to protect local manufacturers.
The currency ended a three-week rally as stocks retreated from their highest level since August 2011 and has declined 0.6 percent since May 3.
The central bank has sold its currency in the run-up to the close on most days in the past year, according to traders who asked not to be identified.
The South Korean won dropped 0.8 percent this week to 1,106.39 per US dollar, data compiled by Bloomberg show. The currency fell 1.4 percent on Friday. India’s rupee lost 1.6 percent to 54.80 and the Philippine peso weakened 0.6 percent to 41.13, while Thailand’s baht lost 0.2 percent to 29.75, falling 1.2 percent on Friday.
The Bank of Japan’s aggressive monetary easing has a big impact on South Korea, Bank of Korea Governor Kim Choong-soo said at a briefing on Thursday after his bank unexpectedly cut its benchmark seven-day repurchase rate by a quarter percentage point to 2.5 percent. The won has risen 13 percent against the yen this year and lost 3.8 percent against the US dollar.
“Speculation is rising that authorities may intervene in the market to protect the won,” Woori Bank Co’s Choi Sung-hyun said in Seoul.
The baht fell for a second day on Friday as Thai Minister of Finance Kittiratt Na-Ranong said the Bank of Thailand should reduce its benchmark rate by more than a quarter of a percentage point or implement capital controls.
In Shanghai, the yuan fell 0.18 percent to 6.1417 per US dollar, paring this week’s gain to 0.23 percent.
Elsewhere, Indonesia’s rupiah was little changed at 9,734, while Malaysia’s ringgit rose 1.4 percent to 2.993 after Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak’s ruling National Front coalition prevailed at elections last weekend. Vietnam’s dong was steady at 20,935.
The US dollar had its biggest rally since February as signs of labor market strength suggested the US Federal Reserve may reduce stimulus sooner than its peers.
The Dollar Index rose 1.2 percent during the week, triggering plunges in oil, gold and US Treasuries.
The Australian dollar dropped below parity with the greenback.
The pound declined 1.5 percent this week to US$1.5339, the biggest drop since the period ended on Feb. 22. Sterling weakened 0.3 percent to £0.8453 pence per euro.
Taiwan Transport and Storage Corp (TTS, 台灣通運倉儲) yesterday unveiled its first electric tractor unit — manufactured by Volvo Trucks — in a ceremony in Taipei, and said the unit would soon be used to transport cement produced by Taiwan Cement Corp (TCC, 台灣水泥). Both TTS and TCC belong to TCC International Holdings Ltd (台泥國際集團). With the electric tractor unit, the Taipei-based cement firm would become the first in Taiwan to use electric vehicles to transport construction materials. TTS chairman Koo Kung-yi (辜公怡), Volvo Trucks vice president of sales and marketing Johan Selven, TCC president Roman Cheng (程耀輝) and Taikoo Motors Group
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
RECORD-BREAKING: TSMC’s net profit last quarter beat market expectations by expanding 8.9% and it was the best first-quarter profit in the chipmaker’s history Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電), which counts Nvidia Corp as a key customer, yesterday said that artificial intelligence (AI) server chip revenue is set to more than double this year from last year amid rising demand. The chipmaker expects the growth momentum to continue in the next five years with an annual compound growth rate of 50 percent, TSMC chief executive officer C.C. Wei (魏哲家) told investors yesterday. By 2028, AI chips’ contribution to revenue would climb to about 20 percent from a percentage in the low teens, Wei said. “Almost all the AI innovators are working with TSMC to address the
FUTURE PLANS: Although the electric vehicle market is getting more competitive, Hon Hai would stick to its goal of seizing a 5 percent share globally, Young Liu said Hon Hai Precision Industry Co (鴻海精密), a major iPhone assembler and supplier of artificial intelligence (AI) servers powered by Nvidia Corp’s chips, yesterday said it has introduced a rotating chief executive structure as part of the company’s efforts to cultivate future leaders and to enhance corporate governance. The 50-year-old contract electronics maker reported sizable revenue of NT$6.16 trillion (US$189.67 billion) last year. Hon Hai, also known as Foxconn Technology Group (富士康科技集團), has been under the control of one man almost since its inception. A rotating CEO system is a rarity among Taiwanese businesses. Hon Hai has given leaders of the company’s six