The New Taiwan dollar yesterday rose another 0.74 percent to close at NT$31.225 against the greenback in Taipei trading, the highest level since July 8 last year, as global funds flowed to emerging markets — including Taiwan — in search of higher returns, traders said.
It was the fifth straight consecutive session of gains, with turnover soaring to US$1.13 billion on the Taipei Foreign Exchange, more than 70 percent higher than the US$659 million recorded on Tuesday. Transactions amounted to US$422 million at the smaller Cosmos Foreign Exchange.
“The local currency might soon rise above the NT$31 level, as quantitative easing and negative interest rates drive funds from advanced to emerging markets,” a trader at a Taipei-based local bank said by telephone.
Hot money yesterday raised the South Korean won by 0.98 percent and the Japanese yen by 0.92 percent, greater increases than the local currency, the central bank said in a statement.
The statement showed the NT dollar ranked as the third best performer, stronger than its counterparts in Thailand, Singapore, China and Indonesia.
The ongoing rallies in local shares lent support to the NT dollar, which has gained 3.07 percent in the past month and is up 4.02 percent from last quarter, central bank data showed.
Foreign equity players yesterday increased holdings in local shares by NT$6.87 billion (US$220 million), the Taiwan Stock Exchange said, even though most listed companies have reported lackluster earnings results so far this year.
Local shares generate dividend yields of 4 percent, better than their peers in Hong Kong, Japan, China and elsewhere in the region, making heavyweight indexed shares attractive, the currency trader said.
Foreign funds have to convert into the local currency in order to buy local shares.
The appreciation in the NT dollar also drove importers to increase greenback positions in the hope of cutting import costs later, the trader said.
The NT dollar might find resistance at NT$30, as exporters might ask the central bank to intervene and help stem foreign exchange losses, another trader said.
Companies with cross-border operations have named foreign currency volatility as their biggest concern in profitability forecasts for this year, as a strong NT dollar would erode earnings.
The central bank has refrained from patent interference after manipulation charges from the US and by local analysts, the trader said.
Still, the monetary policymaker might not sit idly if the NT dollar grows too strong and too fast, which would seriously weaken the competitiveness of Taiwanese exporters, the trader said.
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
TRANSFORMATION: Taiwan is now home to the largest Google hardware research and development center outside of the US, thanks to the nation’s economic policies President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) yesterday attended an event marking the opening of Google’s second hardware research and development (R&D) office in Taiwan, which was held at New Taipei City’s Banciao District (板橋). This signals Taiwan’s transformation into the world’s largest Google hardware research and development center outside of the US, validating the nation’s economic policy in the past eight years, she said. The “five plus two” innovative industries policy, “six core strategic industries” initiative and infrastructure projects have grown the national industry and established resilient supply chains that withstood the COVID-19 pandemic, Tsai said. Taiwan has improved investment conditions of the domestic economy