The dollar strengthened Friday versus its major rivals except the yen as reports from key UN officials indicated that the diplomatic wrangling which has held up any military action against Iraq is set to continue, at least for the time being.
Many analysts felt the presentations by UN weapons inspectors Hans Blix and Mohamed ElBaradei provided little new insight into how the efforts to disarm Iraq will ultimately play out. Blix and ElBaradei said that they had made progress in the last two weeks, but that Iraq was not fully complying with the UN inspectors.
During the trading session, dollar watchers observed "primarily a churning within well-worn ranges as the market awaits for fresh new developments" on the geopolitical front, said Marc Chandler, chief currency strategist at HSBC Securities in New York.
Late Friday in New York, the euro was trading at US$1.0794, down from US$1.0822 late Thursday. The dollar was changing hands at Japanese yen 120.30, down from Japanese yen 120.61 Thursday. Against the Swiss currency, the dollar was valued at SF1.3618, up from SF1.3561 , while British pound was at US$1.6142, down from US$1.6189 Thursday.
The yen found a bit of traction from news that Japan's economy grew slightly in the fourth quarter.
FALLING BEHIND: Samsung shares have declined more than 20 percent this year, as the world’s largest chipmaker struggles in key markets and plays catch-up to rival SK Hynix Samsung Electronics Co is laying off workers in Southeast Asia, Australia and New Zealand as part of a plan to reduce its global headcount by thousands of jobs, sources familiar with the situation said. The layoffs could affect about 10 percent of its workforces in those markets, although the numbers for each subsidiary might vary, said one of the sources, who asked not to be named because the matter is private. Job cuts are planned for other overseas subsidiaries and could reach 10 percent in certain markets, the source said. The South Korean company has about 147,000 in staff overseas, more than half
Taipei is today suspending its US$2.5 trillion stock market as Super Typhoon Krathon approaches Taiwan with strong winds and heavy rain. The nation is not conducting securities, currency or fixed-income trading, statements from its stock and currency exchanges said. Yesterday, schools and offices were closed in several cities and counties in southern and eastern Taiwan, including in the key industrial port city of Kaohsiung. Taiwan, which started canceling flights, ship sailings and some train services earlier this week, has wind and rain advisories in place for much of the island. It regularly experiences typhoons, and in July shut offices and schools as
TECH PARTNERSHIP: The deal with Arizona-based Amkor would provide TSMC with advanced packing and test capacities, a requirement to serve US customers Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) is collaborating with Amkor Technology Inc to provide local advanced packaging and test capacities in Arizona to address customer requirements for geographical flexibility in chip manufacturing. As part of the agreement, TSMC, the world’s biggest contract chipmaker, would contract turnkey advanced packaging and test services from Amkor at their planned facility in Peoria, Arizona, a joint statement released yesterday said. TSMC would leverage these services to support its customers, particularly those using TSMC’s advanced wafer fabrication facilities in Phoenix, Arizona, it said. The companies would jointly define the specific packaging technologies, such as TSMC’s Integrated
An Indian factory producing iPhone components resumed work yesterday after a fire that halted production — the third blaze to disrupt Apple Inc’s local supply chain since the start of last year. Local industrial behemoth Tata Group’s plant in Tamil Nadu, which was shut down by the unexplained fire on Saturday, is a key linchpin of Apple’s nascent supply chain in the country. A spokesperson for subsidiary Tata Electronics Pvt yesterday said that the company would restart work in “many areas of the facility today.” “We’ve been working diligently since Saturday to support our team and to identify the cause of the fire,”
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