The New Taiwan dollar yesterday rose to a fresh 13-and-a-half-year high against the US dollar on the back of the appreciation of Asian currencies and inward remittance of foreign capital.
The NT dollar closed up NT$0.14 at NT$28.76 against the greenback on the Taipei Forex market, while it closed even higher, at NT$28.675, on the smaller Cosmos Foreign Exchange market.
“The NT dollar’s appreciation yesterday matched the rising pace of Asian currencies, boosted by the US Federal Reserve’s decision to keep interest rates low and not to end the quantitative easing measure earlier,” a Taipei-based currency trader at the Bank of Taiwan (臺灣銀行) said by telephone.
The inflow of foreign funds and the large sell-off of US dollar foreign exchange holdings by local exporters also drove the appreciation of the NT dollar, the trader said.
The NT dollar’s appreciation yesterday was in line with other major regional currencies, the pace of appreciation falling in the mid-range of that for the main Asian currencies, the central bank’s latest data showed.
The NT dollar rose 0.49 percent against the greenback yesterday, while the South Korean won closed up 0.77 percent, the highest in the region, and the Japanese yen was up 0.15 percent, the lowest among Asian currencies, data showed.
Trading volume on the currency markets was US$1.57 billion yesterday, with US$1.05 billion on the Taipei Forex exchange and US$521 million on the Cosmos market, data showed.
The Taiwan Institute of Economic Research (TIER, 台灣經濟研究院) yesterday revised upward its forecast for the NT dollar’s full-year average to NT$29.247 against the greenback.
“Japan’s possible quantitative easing measure after the massive earthquake and the US dollar’s weakening strategy will boost demand for Asian currencies in the near term,” Chen Miao (陳淼), director of the institute’s macroeconomic forecasting center, told a media briefing.
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