The euro fell the most in two months versus the US dollar as Greek political wrangling threatened to unravel a plan to stem Europe’s debt crisis and global leaders balked at writing new checks to bail out the region.
The 17-nation currency touched a three-week low versus the greenback as Greek Prime Minister George Papandreou called for, and then called off, a referendum on a bailout needed to prevent a default. The US dollar rose against all of its 16 most-traded peers as investors sought safety and Japan moved to stop the yen’s advance.
“Greece remains the focus,” said Andrew Cox, a currency strategist at Citigroup Inc in New York. “The event that rocked the markets pretty hard was news that Papandreou was calling the confidence vote and referendum. It hit an already fragile market and was the defining event of the week.”
The euro depreciated 2.5 percent to US$1.3792 in its first weekly loss since the five days ended Oct. 7. The drop was the biggest since the currency fell 3.9 percent in the week ended Sept. 9. The currency touched US$1.3609 on Tuesday, the weakest level since Oct. 12. The yen declined 0.6 percent to 107.88 per euro. The dollar strengthened 3.2 percent to ￥78.24, its biggest weekly gain since April, after touching ￥75.35 on Oct. 31, the lowest level since World War II.
The Dollar Index, which IntercontinentalExchange Inc uses to track the greenback against the currencies of six major trade partners including the euro and yen, rose 2.4 percent to 76.911.
Meanwhile, the British pound had its biggest weekly gain since January against the euro as European leaders struggled to contain the region’s debt crisis and keep Greece inside the monetary union, boosting demand for UK assets.
The pound gained 2.2 percent this week to ￡0.8583 per euro at 4:35pm on Friday in London. That’s the biggest increase since the five days though Jan. 7, when it strengthened by 3.2 percent. It also gained 2.2 percent to 1.4234 Swiss francs, but weakened 0.7 percent to US$1.6024.
TECH RACE: The Chinese firm showed off its new Mate XT hours after the latest iPhone launch, but its price tag and limited supply could be drawbacks China’s Huawei Technologies Co (華為) yesterday unveiled the world’s first tri-foldable phone, as it seeks to expand its lead in the world’s biggest smartphone market and steal the spotlight from Apple Inc hours after it debuted a new iPhone. The Chinese tech giant showed off its new Mate XT, which users can fold three ways like an accordion screen door, during a launch ceremony in Shenzhen. The Mate XT comes in red and black and has a 10.2-inch display screen. At 3.6mm thick, it is the world’s slimmest foldable smartphone, Huawei said. The company’s Web site showed that it has garnered more than
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Vanguard International Semiconductor Corp (世界先進) and Episil Technologies Inc (漢磊) yesterday announced plans to jointly build an 8-inch fab to produce silicon carbide (SiC) chips through an equity acquisition deal. SiC chips offer higher efficiency and lower energy loss than pure silicon chips, and they are able to operate at higher temperatures. They have become crucial to the development of electric vehicles, artificial intelligence data centers, green energy storage and industrial devices. Vanguard, a contract chipmaker focused on making power management chips and driver ICs for displays, is to acquire a 13 percent stake in Episil for NT$2.48 billion (US$77.1 million).
ISSUES: Gogoro has been struggling with ballooning losses and was recently embroiled in alleged subsidy fraud, using Chinese-made components instead of locally made parts Gogoro Inc (睿能創意), the nation’s biggest electric scooter maker, yesterday said that its chairman and CEO Horace Luke (陸學森) has resigned amid chronic losses and probes into the company’s alleged involvement in subsidy fraud. The board of directors nominated Reuntex Group (潤泰集團) general counsel Tamon Tseng (曾夢達) as the company’s new chairman, Gogoro said in a statement. Ruentex is Gogoro’s biggest stakeholder. Gogoro Taiwan general manager Henry Chiang (姜家煒) is to serve as acting CEO during the interim period, the statement said. Luke’s departure came as a bombshell yesterday. As a company founder, he has played a key role in pushing for the
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