The European single currency struck a record high US$1.4766 in trading in London yesterday after more bad news from the banking sector hit investor confidence over the US economy, traders said.
In early European trade, the euro beat its previous historic peak of US$1.4752 reached on Nov. 9.
The dollar also fell heavily against other major rivals, including sterling, the Swiss franc and yen as a slew of negative reports in the banking sector on Monday shook investor optimism.
"Markets have been very sensitive to a bunch of negative news from the US, forcing investors to shun risk and instead hedge their positions," said Hideaki Inoue, chief foreign exchange strategist at Mitsubishi-UFJ Trust and Banking Corp.
Goldman Sachs on Monday urged clients to sell shares in US banking peer Citigroup, citing an expected US$15 billion write-down in its next fiscal quarter owing to its exposure to the subprime mortgage crisis.
Goldman Sachs also downgraded Lowe's -- the No. 2 US home-improvement retailer -- on concerns over further deterioration in the housing market, causing concern that consumption could be slowing.
Market players had their eyes turned to minutes of last month's meeting of the Federal Open Market Committee, due for release yesterday, to look for clues on the US central bank's rate move next month.
The Fed cut has rates twice since September in an attempt to appease distressed financial markets and prevent the US economy from stalling, but the outlook has been muddled by sturdy inflation.
To many, Tatu City on the outskirts of Nairobi looks like a success. The first city entirely built by a private company to be operational in east Africa, with about 25,000 people living and working there, it accounts for about two-thirds of all foreign investment in Kenya. Its low-tax status has attracted more than 100 businesses including Heineken, coffee brand Dormans, and the biggest call-center and cold-chain transport firms in the region. However, to some local politicians, Tatu City has looked more like a target for extortion. A parade of governors have demanded land worth millions of dollars in exchange
Hong Kong authorities ramped up sales of the local dollar as the greenback’s slide threatened the foreign-exchange peg. The Hong Kong Monetary Authority (HKMA) sold a record HK$60.5 billion (US$7.8 billion) of the city’s currency, according to an alert sent on its Bloomberg page yesterday in Asia, after it tested the upper end of its trading band. That added to the HK$56.1 billion of sales versus the greenback since Friday. The rapid intervention signals efforts from the city’s authorities to limit the local currency’s moves within its HK$7.75 to HK$7.85 per US dollar trading band. Heavy sales of the local dollar by
Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co’s (TSMC, 台積電) revenue jumped 48 percent last month, underscoring how electronics firms scrambled to acquire essential components before global tariffs took effect. The main chipmaker for Apple Inc and Nvidia Corp reported monthly sales of NT$349.6 billion (US$11.6 billion). That compares with the average analysts’ estimate for a 38 percent rise in second-quarter revenue. US President Donald Trump’s trade war is prompting economists to retool GDP forecasts worldwide, casting doubt over the outlook for everything from iPhone demand to computing and datacenter construction. However, TSMC — a barometer for global tech spending given its central role in the
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