The yen rose the most in two months against the dollar and surged versus the euro after Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi's apology for wartime suffering in neighboring Asian nations eased concern that Japan will lose business in China.
"The apology is a real positive for the yen," said David Mann, a currency strategist at Standard Chartered Plc in London. "Growing tensions between the two countries and potential spill-over effects for the Japanese economy, with growing moves for a boycott, meant it was a real risk for the yen."
The yen rose to ?106 per dollar at 5:40pm in New York, from ?106.94 late Thursday, according to electronic currency-dealing system EBS. It rose to ?138.49 per euro from ?139.54. The yen also rose against the Korean won, Swiss franc and British pound after Koizumi said he will meet with Chinese President Hu Jintao (胡錦濤) today.
Japan's currency is also being buoyed after US Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan said on Thursday that China will probably end the yuan's decade-old peg to the dollar "sooner rather than later." A stronger yuan may reduce the competitiveness of China's exports compared with Japan's.
"Any probability of China revaluing will lead to stronger Asian currencies," said Mark Austin, head of global currency strategy in London at HSBC Holdings Plc. "Japan has been worried about a loss of competitiveness as China keeps its currency low, so if the Chinese currency goes higher, Japan will be happier to allow its currency to strengthen."
The yen had its biggest weekly advance against the dollar in three months, gaining 1.8 percent. Friday's gain is the largest since Feb. 22 against the US dollar and March 21 versus the euro.
The greenback fell to US$1.3065 per euro from US$1.3047. It rose for the first day in five on Thursday, paring the week's losses, after the Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia's index of regional manufacturing for April rose to the highest this year. Other recent reports including US retail sales, consumer confidence and housing starts were below economists' forecasts.
"I'm favoring a slightly weaker dollar," said Russell LaScala, chief currency dealer in New York at Deutsche Bank AG. "Take Philly Fed out and the numbers have been slightly weak."
Taiwan’s exports soared 56 percent year-on-year to an all-time high of US$64.05 billion last month, propelled by surging global demand for artificial intelligence (AI), high-performance computing and cloud service infrastructure, the Ministry of Finance said yesterday. Department of Statistics Director-General Beatrice Tsai (蔡美娜) called the figure an unexpected upside surprise, citing a wave of technology orders from overseas customers alongside the usual year-end shopping season for technology products. Growth is likely to remain strong this month, she said, projecting a 40 percent to 45 percent expansion on an annual basis. The outperformance could prompt the Directorate-General of Budget, Accounting and
The demise of the coal industry left the US’ Appalachian region in tatters, with lost jobs, spoiled water and countless kilometers of abandoned underground mines. Now entrepreneurs are eyeing the rural region with ambitious visions to rebuild its economy by converting old mines into solar power systems and data centers that could help fuel the increasing power demands of the artificial intelligence (AI) boom. One such project is underway by a non-profit team calling itself Energy DELTA (Discovery, Education, Learning and Technology Accelerator) Lab, which is looking to develop energy sources on about 26,305 hectares of old coal land in
Netflix on Friday faced fierce criticism over its blockbuster deal to acquire Warner Bros Discovery. The streaming giant is already viewed as a pariah in some Hollywood circles, largely due to its reluctance to release content in theaters and its disruption of traditional industry practices. As Netflix emerged as the likely winning bidder for Warner Bros — the studio behind Casablanca, the Harry Potter movies and Friends — Hollywood’s elite launched an aggressive campaign against the acquisition. Titanic director James Cameron called the buyout a “disaster,” while a group of prominent producers are lobbying US Congress to oppose the deal,
Two Chinese chipmakers are attracting strong retail investor demand, buoyed by industry peer Moore Threads Technology Co’s (摩爾線程) stellar debut. The retail portion of MetaX Integrated Circuits (Shanghai) Co’s (上海沐曦) upcoming initial public offering (IPO) was 2,986 times oversubscribed on Friday, according to a filing. Meanwhile, Beijing Onmicro Electronics Co (北京昂瑞微), which makes radio frequency chips, was 2,899 times oversubscribed on Friday, its filing showed. The bids coincided with Moore Threads’ trading debut, which surged 425 percent on Friday after raising 8 billion yuan (US$1.13 billion) on bets that the company could emerge as a viable local competitor to Nvidia
RSS