The Taiwan dollar fell on concern overseas fund managers will reduce their holdings of the island's stocks and the currency needed to buy the securities.
Investors abroad last week sold a net NT$6.8 billion (US$212 million) of Taiwan's equities after being net buyers of shares the prior week, according to exchange figures.
The appeal of Taiwan's stocks and currency may decline after a report on Jan. 7 showed exports rose in December at their slowest pace in 17 months.
"Fund outflows from the stock market will definitely weaken the Taiwan dollar," Pory Shih, a currency trader at Chang Hwa Commercial Bank (彰化銀行) in Taipei.
The Taiwan dollar fell NT$0.125 to closed at NT$32.263 against its US counterpart, according to Taipei Forex Inc.
Shipments abroad last month increased 6.2 percent from a year ago to US$14.9 billion after climbing 12.5 percent in November, the Ministry of Finance said on Jan. 7.
Taiwan's currency also weakened after US Treasury Secretary John Snow said policy makers "want to do things to sustain the strength" of the US dollar, partly by narrowing the country's budget deficit.
The government needs to "make America the best place to invest money," he said.
"Snow's comments actually touched on ways to curb the country's deficit," Shih said.
Speculation that the US will be able to narrow the shortfall "may prompt investors to sell the Taiwan dollar."
Snow also omitted previous remarks made that signaled demand and supply should decide exchange rates, prompting investors to bet on the US currency, said Sabrina Jacobs, a currency strategist in Singapore at Dresdner Kleinwort Wasserstein.
"That Snow did not explicitly mention that markets determine exchange rates is what investors are concentrating on at the moment, and buying US dollars" against Asian currencies, Jacobs said.
The omission "may tell us that the US is a bit more concerned about the dollar's decline now than some weeks ago."
Snow said in a Dec. 3 interview he has "deep respect for the way markets perform."
Real estate agent and property developer JSL Construction & Development Co (愛山林) led the average compensation rankings among companies listed on the Taiwan Stock Exchange (TWSE) last year, while contract chipmaker Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) finished 14th. JSL Construction paid its employees total average compensation of NT$4.78 million (US$159,701), down 13.5 percent from a year earlier, but still ahead of the most profitable listed tech giants, including TSMC, TWSE data showed. Last year, the average compensation (which includes salary, overtime, bonuses and allowances) paid by TSMC rose 21.6 percent to reach about NT$3.33 million, lifting its ranking by 10 notches
Popular vape brands such as Geek Bar might get more expensive in the US — if you can find them at all. Shipments of vapes from China to the US ground to a near halt last month from a year ago, official data showed, hit by US President Donald Trump’s tariffs and a crackdown on unauthorized e-cigarettes in the world’s biggest market for smoking alternatives. That includes Geek Bar, a brand of flavored vapes that is not authorized to sell in the US, but which had been widely available due to porous import controls. One retailer, who asked not to be named, because
SEASONAL WEAKNESS: The combined revenue of the top 10 foundries fell 5.4%, but rush orders and China’s subsidies partially offset slowing demand Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) further solidified its dominance in the global wafer foundry business in the first quarter of this year, remaining far ahead of its closest rival, Samsung Electronics Co, TrendForce Corp (集邦科技) said yesterday. TSMC posted US$25.52 billion in sales in the January-to-March period, down 5 percent from the previous quarter, but its market share rose from 67.1 percent the previous quarter to 67.6 percent, TrendForce said in a report. While smartphone-related wafer shipments declined in the first quarter due to seasonal factors, solid demand for artificial intelligence (AI) and high-performance computing (HPC) devices and urgent TV-related orders
MINERAL DIPLOMACY: The Chinese commerce ministry said it approved applications for the export of rare earths in a move that could help ease US-China trade tensions Chinese Vice Premier He Lifeng (何立峰) is today to meet a US delegation for talks in the UK, Beijing announced on Saturday amid a fragile truce in the trade dispute between the two powers. He is to visit the UK from yesterday to Friday at the invitation of the British government, the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs said in a statement. He and US representatives are to cochair the first meeting of the US-China economic and trade consultation mechanism, it said. US President Donald Trump on Friday announced that a new round of trade talks with China would start in London beginning today,
RSS