The US dollar vaulted to a four-month peak against of basket of major currencies on Friday, propelled by a strong US non-farm payrolls report that followed a spate of upbeat economic data this week, a scenario expected to keep US interest rates steady.
The US dollar index posted its largest weekly percentage gain in more than two years with a 1.3 percent jump.
The US currency also hit a two-month high against sterling and the Canadian dollar, a six-week peak versus the Swiss franc and a four-month high against the euro.
However, it fell against the safe-haven yen amid persistent fears about the 2019 novel coronavirus outbreak in China, although investors were focused a little more on US payrolls data for much of the New York session.
Data showed that US non-farm payrolls increased by 225,000 jobs last month, with employment at construction sites increasing by the most in a year given milder-than-normal temperatures.
Economists polled by Reuters had forecast payrolls would rise by 160,000 jobs.
“Today’s positive prints confirmed that the US job market is firing on all cylinders, the US economy is expanding,” said Olivier Konzeoue, foreign-exchange Sales Trader at Saxo Markets in London. “The [US] Federal Reserve looks set to stay put for the time being.”
The US dollar index rose 0.2 percent to 98.687 on Friday.
The US dollar also rose 0.3 percent against the Swiss franc at SF0.9772, gained 0.1 percent versus the Canadian dollar to C$1.3301 and climbed 0.3 percent versus sterling, which fell to US$1.2887.
However, the greenback fell 0.2 percent against the yen to ￥109.76 on what analysts said was more a safe-haven play for the Japanese currency in the wake of the outbreak.
In Taipei, the New Taiwan dollar fell against the US dollar, dropping NT$0.044 to close at NT$30.126, but it was up 0.4 percent for the week.
The Fed, in its latest monetary policy report to the US Congress released on Friday, cited the fallout from the spreading virus as one of the risks to the US economic outlook.
“This is the first major hint that the Fed is concerned that the virus could possibly derail global growth,” said Edward Moya, senior market analyst at Oanda Corp in New York.
The outbreak has killed at least 700 people in China.
The virus has spread globally, with 320 cases in 27 countries and regions outside China, a tally of official statements showed.
The euro on Friday fell to its lowest since October last year after German industrial output recorded its biggest decline in a decade in December.
The European single currency on Friday fell 0.3 percent to US$1.0943. It is down 1.4 for the week, its worst weekly loss since November.
The offshore yuan was down 0.4 percent at 7.005 yuan per US dollar.
Additional reporting by staff writer
AI BOOST: Although Taiwan’s reliance on Chinese rare earth elements is limited, it could face indirect impacts from supply issues and price volatility, an economist said DBS Bank Ltd (星展銀行) has sharply raised its forecast for Taiwan’s economic growth this year to 5.6 percent, citing stronger-than-expected exports and investment linked to artificial intelligence (AI), as it said that the current momentum could peak soon. The acceleration of the global AI race has fueled a surge in Taiwan’s AI-related capital spending and exports of information and communications technology (ICT) products, which have been key drivers of growth this year. “We have revised our GDP forecast for Taiwan upward to 5.6 percent from 4 percent, an upgrade that mainly reflects stronger-than-expected AI-related exports and investment in the third
Mercuries Life Insurance Co (三商美邦人壽) shares surged to a seven-month high this week after local media reported that E.Sun Financial Holding Co (玉山金控) had outbid CTBC Financial Holding Co (中信金控) in the financially strained insurer’s ongoing sale process. Shares of the mid-sized life insurer climbed 5.8 percent this week to NT$6.72, extending a nearly 18 percent rally over the past month, as investors bet on the likelihood of an impending takeover. The final round of bidding closed on Thursday, marking a critical step in the 32-year-old insurer’s search for a buyer after years of struggling to meet capital adequacy requirements. Local media reports
TECHNOLOGICAL RIVALRY: The artificial intelligence chip competition among multiple players would likely intensify over the next two years, a Quanta official said Quanta Computer Inc (廣達), which makes servers and laptops on a contract basis, yesterday said its shipments of artificial intelligence (AI) servers powered by Nvidia Corp’s GB300 chips have increased steadily since last month, should surpass those of the GB200 models this quarter. The production of GB300 servers has gone much more smoothly than that of the GB200, with shipments projected to increase sharply next month, Quanta executive vice president Mike Yang (楊麒令) said on the sidelines of a technology forum in Taipei. While orders for GB200 servers gradually decrease, the production transition between the two server models has been
ASE Technology Holding Co (日月光投控), the world’s largest integrated circuit (IC) packaging and testing supplier, yesterday announced a strategic collaboration with Analog Devices Inc (ADI), coupled with the signing of a binding memorandum of understanding. Under the agreement, ASE intends to purchase 100 percent shares of Analog Devices Sdn Bhd and acquire its manufacturing facility in Penang, Malaysia, a press release showed. The ADI Penang facility is located in the prime industrial hub of Bayan Lepas, with an area of over 680,000 square feet, it said. In addition, the two sides intend to enter into a long-term supply agreement for ASE to
RSS