Asian currencies completed their best week in two months, led by the Philippine peso and the Thai baht, as improvements in US economic data eased concern that global growth is slowing.
The Bloomberg JPMorgan-Asia Dollar Index halted a three-week slide to advance 0.3 percent after reports showed US jobless claims fell more than economists estimated and the nation’s services industry expanded.
Emerging-market currencies had their worst start to a year since 2008 following a rout in Turkey’s lira and a devaluation in Argentina’s peso, as the US Federal Reserve pressed ahead with a plan to slow the pace of its monthly bond purchases by US$10 billion.
“The selloff is clearly overdone, and there’s a need to distinguish the good and bad ones within the EM [emerging-market] bloc,” said Roy Teo, a Singapore-based currency strategist at ABN Amro Bank NV. “The recovery remains fragile given the headwinds from Fed tapering concerns.”
The peso climbed 0.7 percent to 44.99 per US dollar in Manila, according to Tullett Prebon PLC prices. Thailand’s baht added 0.7 percent to 32.80, while the ringgit advanced 0.5 percent to 3.33 versus the greenback, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. Indonesia’s rupiah strengthened 0.4 percent to 12,160. Malaysia and Indonesia’s markets were shut on Jan. 31 for the Lunar New Year holiday.
The New Taiwan dollar weakened to NT$30.406 per US dollar on Friday, versus NT$30.376 on Jan. 29, the last trading day before the six-day Lunar New Year break.
On Friday, the greenback fell against the NT dollar on foreign fund inflows as well as eased concerns over currency volatility in emerging markets, dealers said.
A technical rebound in the local stock market and the strength of other regional currencies, such as the South Korean won, also exerted downward pressure on the US dollar, they said.
However, the US dollar’s losses were limited by the central bank’s intervention to rein in the local unit’s rise and keep Taiwanese exports competitive, they added.
China’s yuan, which resumed trading on Friday after a week-long break, fell to 6.0634 per US dollar versus 6.06 on Jan. 30. The 12-month non-deliverable yuan forwards gained 0.1 percent this week to 6.1172 per US dollar in Hong Kong. China’s non-manufacturing purchasing managers index came in at 50.7 last month, compared with a 50.9 reading in December, HSBC Holdings and Markit Economic said on Friday.
South Korea’s won closed at 1,074.45, 0.6 percent stronger than its Jan. 31 close in offshore trading, and weaker than its Jan. 29 onshore close at 1,070.03. South Korean markets were shut on Jan. 30 and 31. Vietnam’s dong weakened 0.2 percent to 21,105, while India’s rupee appreciated 0.6 percent this week to 62.29 per US dollar.
Investors pulled US$10 billion from emerging Asia equity funds and about US$4.9 billion from developing-nation bond funds in the four weeks through Feb. 5, Australia & New Zealand Banking Group reported, citing EPFR Global data.
Meanwhile, the Bloomberg Dollar Spot Index, which monitors the greenback against 10 major counterparts, fell 0.8 percent this week to 1,023.83 in New York, the biggest drop since Oct. 18, as economic reports from manufacturing industries to payrolls showed mixed results, underscoring the economy’s uneven recovery.
The US unit slipped 1.1 percent to US$1.3635 per euro and rose 0.3 percent to ¥102.30. The shared currency added 1.4 percent to ¥139.53.
The pound fell for a second week against the US dollar, as reports showing UK manufacturing and services slowed last month strengthened the case for the Bank of England to keep interest rates at a record low.
The UK currency fell 0.3 percent in the week to US$1.6397 on Friday. It also weakened 1.2 percent to £0.8302 per euro, the biggest weekly decline since the period ending Feb. 15 last year.
China has claimed a breakthrough in developing homegrown chipmaking equipment, an important step in overcoming US sanctions designed to thwart Beijing’s semiconductor goals. State-linked organizations are advised to use a new laser-based immersion lithography machine with a resolution of 65 nanometers or better, the Chinese Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (MIIT) said in an announcement this month. Although the note does not specify the supplier, the spec marks a significant step up from the previous most advanced indigenous equipment — developed by Shanghai Micro Electronics Equipment Group Co (SMEE, 上海微電子) — which stood at about 90 nanometers. MIIT’s claimed advances last
Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) has appointed Rose Castanares, executive vice president of TSMC Arizona, as president of the subsidiary, which is responsible for carrying out massive investments by the Taiwanese tech giant in the US state, the company said in a statement yesterday. Castanares will succeed Brian Harrison as president of the Arizona subsidiary on Oct. 1 after the incumbent president steps down from the position with a transfer to the Arizona CEO office to serve as an advisor to TSMC Arizona’s chairman, the statement said. According to TSMC, Harrison is scheduled to retire on Dec. 31. Castanares joined TSMC in
EUROPE ON HOLD: Among a flurry of announcements, Intel said it would postpone new factories in Germany and Poland, but remains committed to its US expansion Intel Corp chief executive officer Pat Gelsinger has landed Amazon.com Inc’s Amazon Web Services (AWS) as a customer for the company’s manufacturing business, potentially bringing work to new plants under construction in the US and boosting his efforts to turn around the embattled chipmaker. Intel and AWS are to coinvest in a custom semiconductor for artificial intelligence computing — what is known as a fabric chip — in a “multiyear, multibillion-dollar framework,” Intel said in a statement on Monday. The work would rely on Intel’s 18A process, an advanced chipmaking technology. Intel shares rose more than 8 percent in late trading after the
FACTORY SHIFT: While Taiwan produces most of the world’s AI servers, firms are under pressure to move manufacturing amid geopolitical tensions Lenovo Group Ltd (聯想) started building artificial intelligence (AI) servers in India’s south, the latest boon for the rapidly growing country’s push to become a high-tech powerhouse. The company yesterday said it has started making the large, powerful computers in Pondicherry, southeastern India, moving beyond products such as laptops and smartphones. The Chinese company would also build out its facilities in the Bangalore region, including a research lab with a focus on AI. Lenovo’s plans mark another win for Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who tries to attract more technology investment into the country. While India’s tense relationship with China has suffered setbacks