The New Taiwan dollar sank to a three-week low as a deepening global economic slump encouraged investors to favor safer bets over emerging-market assets.
It weakened against the US dollar for a fourth day after overseas investors sold more of the nation’s shares than they bought in seven of the past eight days. Government estimates released after the close of trading showed that the economy is expected to shrink for a second quarter in the three months through next month, joining the US, Europe, Japan, Hong Kong and Singapore in recession.
“The decoupling story seems to be a no-show in the mess,” said Mitul Kotecha, global head of foreign exchange strategy at Calyon, a unit of France’s Credit Agricole SA.
“It’s less the credit concerns here and more economic concerns. There’s more downside for Asian currencies,” Kotecha said.
The NT dollar declined 0.4 percent to close at NT$33.405 after falling earlier 0.5 percent to NT$33.439, its weakest level since Oct. 29.
Eight of Asia’s 10 most-active currencies excluding the yen weakened yesterday and equities tumbled across the region.
Taiwan’s 10-year government bonds rose by the most in eight days, driving yields to a five-year low, as investors favored the safest assets.
NEW IDENTITY: Known for its software, India has expanded into hardware, with its semiconductor industry growing from US$38bn in 2023 to US$45bn to US$50bn India on Saturday inaugurated its first semiconductor assembly and test facility, a milestone in the government’s push to reduce dependence on foreign chipmakers and stake a claim in a sector dominated by China. Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi opened US firm Micron Technology Inc’s semiconductor assembly, test and packaging unit in his home state of Gujarat, hailing the “dawn of a new era” for India’s technology ambitions. “When young Indians look back in the future, they will see this decade as the turning point in our tech future,” Modi told the event, which was broadcast on his YouTube channel. The plant would convert
‘SEISMIC SHIFT’: The researcher forecast there would be about 1.1 billion mobile shipments this year, down from 1.26 billion the prior year and erasing years of gains The global smartphone market is expected to contract 12.9 percent this year due to the unprecedented memorychip shortage, marking “a crisis like no other,” researcher International Data Corp (IDC) said. The new forecast, a dramatic revision down from earlier estimates, gives the latest accounting of the ongoing memory crunch that is affecting every corner of the electronics industry. The demand for advanced memory to power artificial intelligence (AI) tasks has drained global supply until well into next year and jeopardizes the business model of many smartphone makers. IDC forecast about 1.1 billion mobile shipments this year, down from 1.26 billion the prior
People stand in a Pokemon store in Tokyo on Thursday. One of the world highest-grossing franchises is celebrated its 30th anniversary yesterday.
Zimbabwe’s ban on raw lithium exports is forcing Chinese miners to rethink their strategy, speeding up plans to process the metal locally instead of shipping it to China’s vast rechargeable battery industry. The country is Africa’s largest lithium producer and has one of the world’s largest reserves, according to the US Geological Survey (USGS). Zimbabwe already banned the export of lithium ore in 2022 and last year announced it would halt exports of lithium concentrates from January next year. However, on Wednesday it imposed the ban with immediate effect, leaving unclear what the lithium mining sector would do in the
RSS