Chinese yuan-denominated deposits held by Taiwan-based banks last month fell to a 15-month low, reflecting a downbeat mood about the yuan’s strength at a time when economic growth in China continues to show signs of slowing down, according to the local central bank.
Citing data, the central bank last week said that the balance of yuan deposits, including negotiable certificates of deposit (NCDs), held by banks in Taiwan totaled 310.82 billion yuan (US$47.82 billion), down 3.496 billion yuan, or 1.11 percent, from a month earlier.
Last month’s balance was not only the lowest in 15 months, but marked the third consecutive month for the deposits to fall in the Taiwanese banking sector, according to the data.
Analysts said that the drop in yuan deposits in Taiwan showed that investors’ enthusiasm toward the Chinese currency has been on the decline, and they are betting on a lower yuan amid a slowdown in the Chinese economy, the second-largest in the world.
In the first quarter, China’s economy grew 6.7 percent from a year earlier, compared with a 6.8 percent increase seen in the previous quarter. Last year, China’s economy grew 6.9 percent from a year earlier, the slowest pace in 25 years.
Central bank data showed that at the end of last month, yuan deposits, including NCDs, held by the domestic banking units (DBUs) of Taiwanese banks reached 271.76 billion yuan, down 1.096 billion from a month earlier, while yuan deposits, including NCDs, taken by the offshore banking units (OBUs) of banks in Taiwan also dropped 2.4 billion yuan from a month earlier to 39.06 billion.
Analysts said that amid hopes of a lower yuan down the road, many retail investors in Taiwan chose not to renew their yuan time deposit contracts when their contracts expired.
Analysts added that some institutional investors moved their funds out of yuan-denominated assets for other investment purposes, sending the yuan deposit balance even lower.
As of the end of last month, yuan-denominated interbank loans and other lending through these DBUs and OBUs fell to 12.31 billion yuan from 14.03 billion seen a month earlier, while yuan denominated remittances rose to 163.53 billion yuan from 132.09 billion yuan.
KEEPING UP: The acquisition of a cleanroom in Taiwan would enable Micron to increase production in a market where demand continues to outpace supply, a Micron official said Micron Technology Inc has signed a letter of intent to buy a fabrication site in Taiwan from Powerchip Semiconductor Manufacturing Corp (力積電) for US$1.8 billion to expand its production of memory chips. Micron would take control of the P5 site in Miaoli County’s Tongluo Township (銅鑼) and plans to ramp up DRAM production in phases after the transaction closes in the second quarter, the company said in a statement on Saturday. The acquisition includes an existing 12 inch fab cleanroom of 27,871m2 and would further position Micron to address growing global demand for memory solutions, the company said. Micron expects the transaction to
Vincent Wei led fellow Singaporean farmers around an empty Malaysian plot, laying out plans for a greenhouse and rows of leafy vegetables. What he pitched was not just space for crops, but a lifeline for growers struggling to make ends meet in a city-state with high prices and little vacant land. The future agriculture hub is part of a joint special economic zone launched last year by the two neighbors, expected to cost US$123 million and produce 10,000 tonnes of fresh produce annually. It is attracting Singaporean farmers with promises of cheaper land, labor and energy just over the border.
US actor Matthew McConaughey has filed recordings of his image and voice with US patent authorities to protect them from unauthorized usage by artificial intelligence (AI) platforms, a representative said earlier this week. Several video clips and audio recordings were registered by the commercial arm of the Just Keep Livin’ Foundation, a non-profit created by the Oscar-winning actor and his wife, Camila, according to the US Patent and Trademark Office database. Many artists are increasingly concerned about the uncontrolled use of their image via generative AI since the rollout of ChatGPT and other AI-powered tools. Several US states have adopted
A proposed billionaires’ tax in California has ignited a political uproar in Silicon Valley, with tech titans threatening to leave the state while California Governor Gavin Newsom of the Democratic Party maneuvers to defeat a levy that he fears would lead to an exodus of wealth. A technology mecca, California has more billionaires than any other US state — a few hundred, by some estimates. About half its personal income tax revenue, a financial backbone in the nearly US$350 billion budget, comes from the top 1 percent of earners. A large healthcare union is attempting to place a proposal before
RSS