The New Taiwan dollar closed up 0.41 percent against the US dollar yesterday, hitting its highest level in more than four months, thanks to strong foreign portfolio inflows.
The NT dollar rose to NT$29.611 versus the greenback midway through yesterday’s session, but later retreated, closing up NT$0.121 at NT$29.721 against the US dollar on the Taipei Foreign Exchange Market — its highest level since May 9.
On the smaller Cosmos Foreign Exchange Market, the local currency ended at NT$29.715 against the US dollar, up NT$0.115 from Friday last week.
Daily trading volume remained steady at US$1.22 billion yesterday, with US$805 million on the Taipei Forex and US$416 million on the Cosmos.
“The foreign portfolio inflows helped boost the level of the NT dollar against the greenback,” a Taipei-based currency trader at Union Bank of Taiwan (聯邦銀行) said by telephone.
Foreign portfolio investors bought a net total of NT$13.35 billion (US$449.18 million) worth of shares on the local bourse yesterday, with the benchmark TAIEX closing up 112.86 points, or 1.38 percent, at 8,255.34 on turnover of NT$76.28 billion.
The strong inflows further raised currency rates, the trader said.
He said the NT dollar may remain relatively strong, as the government’s move to raise electricity rates from Oct. 1, as well as recent political turmoil involving President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) and Legislative Speaker Wang Jin-pyng (王金平), may lead the central bank to maintain a stable currency rate.
The rising NT dollar might not exceed NT$29.5 versus the greenback, given Taiwan’s modest economic growth momentum, he said.
Yuanta-Polaris Research Institute (元大寶華綜合經濟研究院) said the NT dollar exchange rate may continue following the South Korean won in the near term, as the issue of the US Federal Reserve’s next chairmanship is likely to put further pressure on the US dollar.
The won rose 0.44 percent to 1,082.2 versus the greenback as of 4pm yesterday, from 1,087 on Friday last week, according to the central bank’s data.
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