Bank of Taiwan (臺灣銀行), the nation’s biggest lender, yesterday said its yen supplies are more than adequate to meet a surge in demand, after people on Thursday flocked to the Japanese currency to capitalize on its weakness against the New Taiwan dollar.
The state-owned bank said that it placed ￥600 million (US$5.35 million) in cash at its headquarters in Taipei yesterday morning, denying a news report that it was experiencing a shortfall of yen after a sudden surge in demand a day earlier.
The bank said the figure was only a small fraction of its yen supplies.
On Thursday, the yen fell to a low of NT$0.2691 during intraday trading, the lowest in 18 months, triggering buying by people planning to visit Japan.
The Chinese-language China Times reported that the bank sold ￥10 billion on Thursday — its largest daily yen sale — which the paper said caused a shortage in supply and forced it to seek help from foreign banks.
The yen yesterday regained its footing against the NT dollar, rising to between NT$0.270 and NT$0.272, as the NT dollar fell against the US dollar amid fears that the US Federal Reserve would hike interest rates next month.
Bank of Taiwan said some of its branches had only between ￥60 million and ￥100 million in cash, and that they asked for additional supplies from the bank’s headquarters.
The bank denied it sought help from foreign lenders to boost its yen supplies.
The yen weakened because traders moved funds out of the Japanese currency to other regional units amid easing concerns over geopolitical tensions, dealers said.
They said NT$0.27 was a psychological level for the yen and selling intensified on the local foreign-exchange market after the Japanese currency fell below that level on Thursday.
Other banks that offer relatively better exchange rates for the yen, such as Mega International Commercial Bank (兆豐國際商銀), Bank SinoPac (永豐銀行) and E.Sun Commercial Bank (玉山銀行), said they also saw robust demand for the Japanese currency.
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