Asian currencies dropped for a fourth week, the longest run of losses since June, as concern that some European nations would struggle to contain and finance budget deficits eroded demand for emerging-market assets.
Malaysia’s ringgit and the Singapore dollar led declines as the MSCI Asia-Pacific Index of regional shares slumped to a 10-week low.
The ringgit dropped 1 percent this week to 3.4445 per US dollar in Kuala Lumpur, and touched a four-month low of 3.4540 on Friday, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. The Singapore dollar lost 1.3 percent to S$1.4233, while the South Korean won slid 0.7 percent to 1,169.45.
The New Taiwan dollar yesterday traded near the strongest level in three weeks, closing up NT$0.003 to NT$32.184 against the US dollar.
The euro headed for a fourth weekly loss versus the US dollar and yen. The euro slid 1.3 percent to US$1.3678 from US$1.3863 last Friday. Against the yen, the euro dropped 2.4 percent to ¥122.09, after falling 3.4 percent on Thursday, the biggest drop since October 2008. The US dollar fell 1.1 percent to ¥89.25, from ¥90.27 last week.
The pound declined 2.2 percent in the week, the most since the five days through Sept. 18, and was at US$1.5630 as of 5:30pm in London on Friday. Sterling declined 0.5 percent to £0.8716 per euro and was 3.3 percent weaker at ¥139.60.
CHIP WAR: The new restrictions are expected to cut off China’s access to Taiwan’s technologies, materials and equipment essential to building AI semiconductors Taiwan has blacklisted Huawei Technologies Co (華為) and Semiconductor Manufacturing International Corp (SMIC, 中芯), dealing another major blow to the two companies spearheading China’s efforts to develop cutting-edge artificial intelligence (AI) chip technologies. The Ministry of Economic Affairs’ International Trade Administration has included Huawei, SMIC and several of their subsidiaries in an update of its so-called strategic high-tech commodities entity list, the latest version on its Web site showed on Saturday. It did not publicly announce the change. Other entities on the list include organizations such as the Taliban and al-Qaeda, as well as companies in China, Iran and elsewhere. Local companies need
CRITICISM: It is generally accepted that the Straits Forum is a CCP ‘united front’ platform, and anyone attending should maintain Taiwan’s dignity, the council said The Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) yesterday said it deeply regrets that former president Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) echoed the Chinese Communist Party’s (CCP) “one China” principle and “united front” tactics by telling the Straits Forum that Taiwanese yearn for both sides of the Taiwan Strait to move toward “peace” and “integration.” The 17th annual Straits Forum yesterday opened in Xiamen, China, and while the Chinese Nationalist Party’s (KMT) local government heads were absent for the first time in 17 years, Ma attended the forum as “former KMT chairperson” and met with Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference Chairman Wang Huning (王滬寧). Wang
CROSS-STRAIT: The MAC said it barred the Chinese officials from attending an event, because they failed to provide guarantees that Taiwan would be treated with respect The Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) on Friday night defended its decision to bar Chinese officials and tourism representatives from attending a tourism event in Taipei next month, citing the unsafe conditions for Taiwanese in China. The Taipei International Summer Travel Expo, organized by the Taiwan Tourism Exchange Association, is to run from July 18 to 21. China’s Taiwan Affairs Office spokeswoman Zhu Fenglian (朱鳳蓮) on Friday said that representatives from China’s travel industry were excluded from the expo. The Democratic Progressive Party government is obstructing cross-strait tourism exchange in a vain attempt to ignore the mainstream support for peaceful development
ELITE UNIT: President William Lai yesterday praised the National Police Agency’s Special Operations Group after watching it go through assault training and hostage rescue drills The US Navy regularly conducts global war games to develop deterrence strategies against a potential Chinese invasion of Taiwan, aimed at making the nation “a very difficult target to take,” US Acting Chief of Naval Operations James Kilby said on Wednesday. Testifying before the US House of Representatives Armed Services Committee, Kilby said the navy has studied the issue extensively, including routine simulations at the Naval War College. The navy is focused on five key areas: long-range strike capabilities; countering China’s command, control, communications, computers, cyber, intelligence, surveillance, reconnaissance and targeting; terminal ship defense; contested logistics; and nontraditional maritime denial tactics, Kilby
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