Indonesia’s rupiah led a fall in Asian currencies this week as slowing economic growth in China dimmed the region’s export outlook.
China, the No. 1 destination for shipments from Taiwan, Indonesia, Thailand and South Korea, reported on Monday that expansion slowed for a second quarter. Apart from the rupiah and Malaysia’s ringgit, regional currencies weakened by 0.2 percent or less, as a reassurance from the US Federal Reserve that a tapering of stimulus is not imminent supported inflows.
“Asian nations’ dependence on China has been increasing and uncertainty surrounding China’s growth is raising concern about the region’s export outlook,” said Tohru Nishihama, a Dai-ichi Life Research Institute Inc economist.
The New Taiwan dollar lost 0.2 percent this week to NT$29.978, compared with NT$29.932 on July 12. The rupiah dropped 0.8 percent to 10,078 per US dollar in Jakarta, according to prices from local banks compiled by Bloomberg, Malaysia’s ringgit weakened 0.5 percent to 3.1923 and China’s yuan was little changed at 6.1379.
Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke’s comments in May and last month that the Fed may taper the program, which has driven emerging market inflows, sparked a slide in Asian currencies, debt and shares.
Foreign funds bought US$1.3 billion more Taiwanese, South Korean and Thai stocks than they sold in the first four days of the week, exchange data show.
The rupiah fell for a record 11th day on Friday and weakened beyond the 10,000 per US dollar level this week for the first time since 2009. Bank Indonesia Deputy Governor Perry Warjiyo said on July 11 the monetary authority has supplied US dollars to the market in the past two to three months while allowing the rupiah to slowly retreat.
The People’s Bank of China cut the yuan’s fixing on four of five days this week, lowering it to 6.1751 per US dollar on Friday, 0.2 percent less than on July 12. The Chinese currency can trade as much as 1 percent either side of the reference rate. The yuan is the only gainer among the 11 most-traded Asian exchange rates this year, rising 1.5 percent.
Elsewhere in Asia, India’s rupee rose 0.5 percent this week to 59.35 per US dollar on Friday on speculation the Central Bank of India intervened. The Philippine peso strengthened 0.1 percent to 43.362, Thailand’s baht rose 0.4 percent to 31.03, South Korea’s won rose 0.2 percent to 1,121.75 and Vietnam’s dong was steady at 21,223.
The US dollar fell for a second week versus most major peers after climbing last month when the Fed said bond-buying might be slowed.
The greenback weakened 0.6 percent to US$1.3143 per euro this week in New York, while the yen dropped 1.4 percent to ¥100.65 to the US currency and the euro appreciated 2 percent to ¥132.26 yen.
The Mexican peso was the best performer this week among the greenback’s 16 most-traded counterparts tracked by Bloomberg, rising 2.3 percent to 12.5325.
The yen fell after Bank of Japan (BOJ) policymakers at a meeting last week stuck with their pledge to expand the monetary base by ¥60 trillion (US$605 billion) to ¥70 trillion per year in their effort to stem deflation and stoke growth.
“The Fed is inching toward less accommodation, and the BOJ is still full-steam ahead on accommodation,” Westpac Banking Corp’s Richard Franulovich said on Monday.
The pound strengthened versus the euro for the first time in six weeks as minutes from the Bank of England’s last meeting showed policymakers voted unanimously against expanding stimulus.
The pound climbed 1 percent this week to US$1.5259 and appreciated 0.4 percent to £0.8612 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