Most Asian currencies were poised for weekly drops as some investors deemed policymakers in Europe and the US are not doing enough to revive the global economic recovery, damping demand for riskier assets.
The MSCI Asia Pacific Index of shares declined for a third day after the European Central Bank (ECB) signaled yesterday Germany’s reservations on its plan for joint bond purchases to stem the region’s debt crisis. The US Federal Reserve on Wednesday stopped short of suggesting an imminent third round of asset purchases.
The New Taiwan dollar fell 0.3 percent to NT$30.022 per US dollar this week after reports showed manufacturing and services in China grew at a slower pace last month than the month before, damping the outlook for shipments to the world’s second-largest economy. Taiwan’s currency dropped 0.1 percent from Wednesday after markets were closed on Friday due to a typhoon.
India’s rupee headed for a third weekly loss after the central bank held borrowing costs, while Indonesia’s rupiah fell for a third day after the nation posted its biggest trade deficit since at least 2008.
The rupee dropped 0.9 percent to 55.8350 per US dollar from a week ago as of Friday’s close, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. Thailand’s baht fell 0.3 percent to 31.60, headed for its biggest weekly loss since June, and fell 0.4 percent from Wednesday as markets were closed on Friday for a public holiday. The rupiah lost 0.2 percent this week and 0.1 percent today to 9,488.
The Bloomberg JPMorgan Asia Dollar Index dropped 0.1 percent, halting a three-week advance. Its 60-day historical volatility dropped to 3.78 percent from 3.85 percent on July 27. The Dollar Index, which tracks the greenback against the currencies of its six trade partners, jumped 0.7 percent this week in New York.
“China’s condition remains sluggish,” said Shigehisa Shiroki, chief trader on the Asian and emerging-markets team at Mizuho Corporate Bank Ltd in Tokyo. “It’s hard to be aggressively buying Asian currencies until China recovers.”
The rupiah was poised for a fourth weekly decline after official data on Wednesday showed exports fell 16.4 percent in June from a year earlier, the most since 2009. The trade deficit reached $1.3 billion, the largest since the data became available, a report showed the same day.
South Korea’s won fell 0.4 percent to 1,136 per US dollar as of 11:25am in Seoul yesterday, trimming its advance this week to 0.2 percent. Government reports this week showed industrial production shrank in June from May, and a slump in exports worsened last month. The Bank of Korea will next meet to review borrowing costs on Thursday.
Anna Bhobho, a 31-year-old housewife from rural Zimbabwe, was once a silent observer in her home, excluded from financial and family decisionmaking in the deeply patriarchal society. Today, she is a driver of change in her village, thanks to an electric tricycle she owns. In many parts of rural sub-Saharan Africa, women have long been excluded from mainstream economic activities such as operating public transportation. However, three-wheelers powered by green energy are reversing that trend, offering financial opportunities and a newfound sense of importance. “My husband now looks up to me to take care of a large chunk of expenses,
SECTOR LEADER: TSMC can increase capacity by as much as 20 percent or more in the advanced node part of the foundry market by 2030, an analyst said Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) is expected to lead its peers in the advanced 2-nanometer process technology, despite competition from Samsung Electronics Co and Intel Corp, TrendForce Corp analyst Joanne Chiao (喬安) said. TSMC’s sophisticated products and its large production scale are expected to allow the company to continue dominating the global 2-nanometer process market this year, Chiao said. The world’s largest contract chipmaker is scheduled to begin mass production of chips made on the 2-nanometer process in its Hsinchu fab in the second half of this year. It would also hold a ceremony on Monday next week to
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State-run CPC Corp, Taiwan (CPC, 台灣中油) yesterday signed a letter of intent with Alaska Gasline Development Corp (AGDC), expressing an interest to buy liquefied natural gas (LNG) and invest in the latter’s Alaska LNG project, the Ministry of Economic Affairs said in a statement. Under the agreement, CPC is to participate in the project’s upstream gas investment to secure stable energy resources for Taiwan, the ministry said. The Alaska LNG project is jointly promoted by AGDC and major developer Glenfarne Group LLC, as Alaska plans to export up to 20 million tonnes of LNG annually from 2031. It involves constructing an 1,290km
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