The NT dollar advanced the most in six weeks as economists predicted exports grew for a 13th month, boosting speculation investors will increase holdings of Taiwan’s assets.
The currency gained for a third day as Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke said the purchase of more bonds beyond the US$600 billion announced last month is “certainly possible,” according to a transcript of an interview on CBS Corp.
Overseas shipments rose 18.9 percent last month from a year earlier, compared with an increase of 21.9 percent the previous month, according to the median estimate of economists in a Bloomberg survey before a Ministry of Finance report tomorrow. Bonds gained.
“Economic data is still in a healthy situation,” said Yili Tang, head of the currency division at Shinkong Life Insurance Co (新光人壽) in Taipei. “Hot money will come into Asia, no doubt. The central bank will control the market.”
The NT dollar ended 0.4 percent stronger at NT$30.625 against its US counterpart, according to Taipei Forex Inc. The currency has appreciated 3.4 percent so far this quarter, the best performance among Asia’s most-traded currencies.
Overseas funds bought US$102 million more Taiwanese stocks than they sold yesterday, boosting net purchases this year to US$7.06 billion, exchange data showed.
Taiwan’s currency was up 2 percent a minute before the close and later trimmed gains as the central bank sold the local dollar, said a trader familiar with the authority’s operations, who declined to be identified.
The NT dollar has pared gains or weakened in the final minutes of trading on most days in the past eight months as policy makers bought the US dollar, according to traders familiar with the central bank’s operations who declined to be identified. Central banks intervene in currency markets by arranging purchases or sales of foreign exchange.
The yield on the 2 percent note due in July 2015 fell one basis point to 0.990 percent, according to GRETAI Securities Market, the nation’s biggest exchange for bonds. A basis point is 0.01 percentage point.
Meanwhile, China’s yuan rose against the US dollar ahead of a meeting of European finance ministers to discuss expanding the region’s bailout fund to curb the debt crisis.
The People’s Bank of China (中國人民銀行), which manages the exchange rate using a basket of currencies of major trading partners, set the yuan rate 0.1 percent higher at 6.6515 yuan against the US dollar, stronger for a third day. Belgian Finance Minister Didier Reynders said on Saturday the US$1 trillion fund may be increased if ministers decide to introduce a larger permanent facility.
“Europe will continue to be the dominant issue,” said Patrick Perret-Green, head of Asian foreign-exchange strategy at Citigroup Inc. “The yuan has only appreciated mildly compared to the bounce of other currencies against the dollar.”
The yuan rose 0.2 percent to 6.6477 yuan per US dollar as of 6pm in Shanghai, according to the China Foreign Exchange Trade System.
China’s economic planning agency yesterday outlined details of measures aimed at boosting the economy, but refrained from major spending initiatives. The piecemeal nature of the plans announced yesterday appeared to disappoint investors who were hoping for bolder moves, and the Shanghai Composite Index gave up a 10 percent initial gain as markets reopened after a weeklong holiday to end 4.59 percent higher, while Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index dived 9.41 percent. Chinese National Development and Reform Commission Chairman Zheng Shanjie (鄭珊潔) said the government would frontload 100 billion yuan (US$14.2 billion) in spending from the government’s budget for next year in addition
Advanced Micro Devices Inc (AMD) suffered its biggest stock decline in more than a month after the company unveiled new artificial intelligence (AI) chips, but did not provide hoped-for information on customers or financial performance. The stock slid 4 percent to US$164.18 on Thursday, the biggest single-day drop since Sept. 3. Shares of the company remain up 11 percent this year. AMD has emerged as the biggest contender to Nvidia Corp in the lucrative market of AI processors. The company’s latest chips would exceed some capabilities of its rival, AMD chief executive officer Lisa Su (蘇姿丰) said at an event hosted by
TECH JUGGERNAUT: TSMC shares have more than doubled since ChatGPT’s launch in late 2022, as demand for cutting-edge artificial intelligence chips remains high Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) yesterday posted a better-than-expected 39 percent rise in quarterly revenue, assuaging concerns that artificial intelligence (AI) hardware spending is beginning to taper off. The main chipmaker for Nvidia Corp and Apple Inc reported third-quarter sales of NT$759.69 billion (US$23.6 billion), compared with the average analyst projection of NT$748 billion. For last month alone, TSMC reported revenue jumped 39.6 percent year-on-year to NT$251.87 billion. Taiwan’s largest company is to disclose its full third-quarter earnings on Thursday next week and update its outlook. Hsinchu-based TSMC produces the cutting-edge chips needed to train AI. The company now makes more
NEXT GENERATION: The new 3-nanometer chip has 28 percent more transistors and offers up to 80 percent faster language model performance than its predecessor MediaTek Inc (聯發科) on Wednesday launched a new flagship smartphone chip, Dimensity 9400, made with Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co’s (TSMC, 台積電) enhanced 3-nanometer technology, aiming to bring more artificial intelligence (AI) applications to edge devices like phones. The Dimensity 9400 is the second smartphone chip using TSMC’s second-generation 3-nanometer technology, after Apple Inc’s A18 Pro chip for the new iPhone 16 series. The new mobile chip has 28 percent more transistors, offers up to 80 percent faster large language model performance and is up to 35 percent more power-efficient than its predecessor, Dimensity 9300, MediaTek said. Chinese smartphone makers Xiaomi Corp (小米),
RSS