Taiwan's dollar may gain 4.2 percent by the middle of next year as the central bank will probably allow the currency to strengthen to curb inflation, UBS AG said.
The New Taiwan dollar advanced 3.3 percent in the past six months as policy makers increased interest rates for 13 straight quarters to temper the inflation rate, which rose to a 13-year high last month. A stronger currency helps to slow gains in consumer prices by making imports cheaper.
"I don't think hiking of interest rates will be enough and therefore it will become necessary for them to complement the hiking by allowing the currency to appreciate," said Nizam Idris, a currency strategist at UBS in Singapore.
"Inflation pressure is coming both from strong domestic demand and imported inflation from higher oil prices and foods," he said.
The NT dollar was little changed against the US currency. It traded at NT$32.348 from NT$32.350 yesterday morning, according to Taipei Forex Inc.
The currency may reach NT$31 by the end of next June, Nizam said.
The NT dollar may also draw support from expectations overseas fund managers will place more money into local shares and other assets, UBS said.
"Stock inflows have been quite strong," Nizam said. "It's likely to be sustained. Other potential inflows into Taiwan will come from China."
Fund managers outside Taiwan bought US$1.8 billion more of Taiwan's equities than they sold this year through yesterday, according to data from the stock exchange.
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
An Indonesian animated movie is smashing regional box office records and could be set for wider success as it prepares to open beyond the Southeast Asian archipelago’s silver screens. Jumbo — a film based on the adventures of main character, Don, a large orphaned Indonesian boy facing bullying at school — last month became the highest-grossing Southeast Asian animated film, raking in more than US$8 million. Released at the end of March to coincide with the Eid holidays after the Islamic fasting month of Ramadan, the movie has hit 8 million ticket sales, the third-highest in Indonesian cinema history, Film
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
Alchip Technologies Ltd (世芯), an application-specific integrated circuit (ASIC) designer specializing in server chips, expects revenue to decline this year due to sagging demand for 5-nanometer artificial intelligence (AI) chips from a North America-based major customer, a company executive said yesterday. That would be the first contraction in revenue for Alchip as it has been enjoying strong revenue growth over the past few years, benefiting from cloud-service providers’ moves to reduce dependence on Nvidia Corp’s expensive AI chips by building their own AI accelerator by outsourcing chip design. The 5-nanometer chip was supposed to be a new growth engine as the lifecycle
RSS