The US dollar rose against the New Taiwan dollar on Friday, gaining NT$0.034 to close at NT$32.33, from NT$32.436 on Friday last week, as foreign investors moved funds out of the region, dealers said.
In the wake of the fund outflow, other regional currencies trended lower against the US dollar, which added downward pressure on the Taiwan dollar throughout the session, although buying by Taiwanese exporters in the local unit gave some support to the currency, capping the losses, the dealers said.
The greenback opened at NT$32.27 and moved between NT$32.25 and NT$32.36 before the close. Turnover totaled US$513 million during the trading session.
The US dollar opened lower against the NT dollar as traders here locked in gains they had built up a session earlier, but the greenback soon recouped its losses and traded in positive territory as some foreign investors remitted their funds back to their home markets, the dealers said.
A move by the People’s Bank of China to lower the yuan’s reference rate against the US dollar also led the NT dollar to move lower, they added.
Despite the selling in the NT dollar, turnover in the local foreign exchange market remained moderate as many traders stayed on the sidelines after the European Central Bank (ECB) left its key interest rates unchanged in a policymaking meeting held a day earlier, the dealers said.
The ECB’s decision hurt the appetite of traders in the region to take risks, so that they either shunned non-US dollar-denominated assets or stayed off the trading floor, they said.
Trading in the local foreign exchange market is expected to remain quiet amid cautious sentiment next week before the US Federal Reserve wraps up a two-day policymaking on Wednesday, the dealers said.
With South Korea’s won gaining for a fourth week amid signs of a stabilizing Chinese economy, strategists are questioning how much longer the rally can run.
The won has risen this month as data showed a nascent recovery in Asia’s largest economy and the Fed signaled a slower pace of tightening.
Yet the US dollar has recovered over the last two days as the market’s attention turned to the Fed’s meeting next week, while the Bank of Korea’s reduction of its growth and inflation forecasts raised the chance of an interest-rate cut in the coming months.
“There’s a risk the Fed might sound a bit more hawkish to prepare the market for a rate hike in June,” said Sim Moh Siong, a foreign-exchange strategist at Bank of Singapore Ltd in the city-state. “Under that scenario, the room for the won to further rally may be limited.”
The currency rose 0.3 percent this week to close at 1,143.22 won to the US dollar and declined 0.9 percent on Friday, data compiled by Bloomberg show.
The won has rallied 0.9 percent in the past month, the best performance after Malaysia’s ringgit among emerging-market Asian currencies.
After several years flying high as Asia’s best Nvidia Corp proxy, Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) is increasingly vying with other artificial intelligence (AI) stocks for investor attention. Stock traders are chasing a wider array of beneficiaries as mainstream usage of AI creates demand for hardware beyond the most-advanced chips TSMC makes for Nvidia. Subthemes from the deepening memory crunch to advances in robotics are also luring bids. At the same time, investment caps on single stocks are pushing funds to diversify, while retail investors long familiar with TSMC through its US depositary receipts are being offered a broader set of
UNDER MICROSCOPE: Taiwan detained three people who allegedly conspired to buy servers in Taiwan and export them using fraudulent documentation, prosecutors said Nvidia Corp chief executive officer Jensen Huang (黃仁勳) on Saturday urged Super Micro Computer Inc to tighten up on compliance after Taiwan detained three people this week for allegedly making fraudulent declarations about artificial intelligence (AI) servers made by its US partner. The development marked the nation’s first crackdown on semiconductor smuggling, which grew after the US slapped restrictions on exports of high-end chips such as Nvidia AI accelerators to China. Nvidia is “rigorous” in explaining regulations to all of its partners, Huang told reporters after arriving in Taipei. “Ultimately Super Micro has to run their own company,” he said in response to
TECH RELIANCE: Growth is increasingly reflecting an unequal K-shaped distribution, where technology sectors outperform and other industries struggle, an expert said Standard Chartered Bank has significantly raised its forecast for Taiwan’s economic growth to 9.5 percent this year, up from 7.6 percent previously, citing surging artificial intelligence (AI) demand driving exports, semiconductor production and investment. The upgrade reflects a sustained AI supercycle that continues to fuel demand for advanced chips and technology infrastructure, which form the backbone of Taiwan’s exports, the bank said in a report this week. “We raise our 2026 growth forecast to reflect a much stronger-than-expected first-quarter GDP figure,” Standard Chartered senior economist for greater China and Asia Tommy Wu (胡東安) said in the report. Driven largely by a 35.3 percent
Two of Taiwan’s international carriers, Starlux Airlines Co (星宇航空) and EVA Airways Corp (長榮航空), have retained the five-star airline rating awarded by international airline review organization Skytrax. Starlux was awarded the distinction for a second consecutive year, while EVA Air received it for the 11th straight year, Skytrax said in statements released yesterday and on Thursday last week, respectively. The five-star rating is considered one of the airline industry's highest honors and is awarded following professional audits of airline product and frontline service standards, Skytrax said. The ratings are based on in-depth assessments using unified global quality standards rather than customer review scores
RSS