The US dollar yesterday fell against the New Taiwan dollar, shedding NT$0.042 to close at NT$29.358 as a rising Wall Street boosted currency traders’ appetite for taking risks by picking up non-US dollar currencies in the region, dealers said.
Seasonal demand for funds ahead of the Lunar New Year holiday also placed downward pressure on the US dollar, while the losses suffered by the greenback against the NT dollar were capped by a fall in the Chinese yuan, dealers added.
The US dollar opened at the day’s high of NT$29.392, and moved to a low of NT$29.329 before rebounding. Turnover totaled US$584 million.
The US dollar faced downward pressure soon after the market opened as foreign investors parked their funds in non-US dollar denominated assets, dealers said.
The purchases of non-greenback denominated assets came after Wall Street continued a technical rebound on Monday, when the Dow Jones Industrial Average closed up 410.37 points, or 1.70 percent, after IMF managing director Christine Lagarde said recent sharp corrections in the US market would not post a major threat to global stability.
Wall Street’s solid gains encouraged foreign investors to move funds into the region, boosting most regional currencies, including the NT dollar, dealers said.
With the Year of the Rooster coming to an end, many local exporters rushed to cut their US dollar holdings in exchange for NT dollars to meet fund demands, which also pushed the greenback down, dealers added.
However, a move by the People’s Bank of China to lower the yuan’s reference rate against the US dollar helped the US currency recoup part of its earlier losses by the end of the session, dealers said.
Today is the last trading session of Taipei’s foreign exchange market before the Lunar New Year holiday.
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