Asian currencies gained this week, led by Indonesia’s rupiah and the Thai baht, on optimism the region’s economies are improving.
The baht strengthened 0.3 percent this week to 29.77 per dollar, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. The rupiah climbed 0.3 percent to 9,678 and the ringgit advanced 0.1 percent to 3.0995.
The Bloomberg-JPMorgan Asia Dollar Index, which tracks the 10 most-active Asian currencies excluding the yen, was little changed.
In Taiwan, the US dollar fell against the local currency on Friday, shedding NT$0.039 to close at NT$29.666 after foreign funds flowed into the foreign exchange market, dealers said.
The strength of the New Taiwan dollar also reflected strong foreign institutional buying in the local bourse on Friday, they said.
The greenback opened at the day’s high of 29.705, then moved to an early low of NT$29.594 before rebounding.
For the week, the NT dollar was little changed from last week at NT$29.666 against the greenback, according to prices from Taipei Forex Inc.
Global markets were on edge during the week as the US Senate rejected a pair of partisan proposals on Thursday to replace US$85 billion in automatic spending cuts that began yesterday.
The cuts will hurt global growth, according to the IMF. Italy had inconclusive election results this week, spurring concern Europe’s debt crisis will worsen.
China’s manufacturing slowed for a second month, with the Purchasing Managers’ Index at 50.1 last month, the National Bureau of Statistics and China Federation of Logistics and Purchasing said yesterday in Beijing.
That compares with the 50.5 median estimate in a Bloomberg News survey of 31 analysts and 50.4 in January. A reading above 50 indicates expansion.
The Chinese yuan appreciated 0.2 percent to 6.2237 per US dollar this week.
The baht had a second weekly advance as data showed overseas funds increased holdings of the nation’s debt. International investors bought US$2.7 billion more sovereign notes than they sold last month, according to figures from the Thai Bond Market Association.
The rupiah had the first week of gains since the five days ended on Feb. 8. Foreign funds bought US$255 million more local stocks than they sold this week through Thursday, driving the Jakarta Composite Index of shares to an all-time high yesterday.
The economy may expand 6.3 percent this year, compared with 6.2 percent last year, according to a Bloomberg survey.
The Philippine peso closed the week at 40.688 per US dollar, versus 40.685 on Feb. 22.
India’s rupee weakened 1.3 percent from a week ago to 54.9050 per dollar after the government announced on Thursday an increase in annual spending.
AI SPLURGE: The four major US tech companies have lost more than US$950 billion in value since releasing earnings and outlooks, while equipment makers were gaining Four of the biggest US technology companies together have forecast capital expenditures that would reach about US$650 billion this year — a flood of cash earmarked for new data centers and all the gear within them. The spending planned by Alphabet Inc, Amazon.com Inc, Meta Platforms Inc and Microsoft Corp, all in pursuit of dominance in the still-nascent market for artificial intelligence (AI) tools, is a boom without a parallel this century. Each of the companies’ estimates for this year is expected either near or surpass their budgets for the past three years combined. They would set a high-watermark for capital spending
China’s top chipmaker has warned that breakaway spending on artificial intelligence (AI) chips is bringing forward years of future demand, raising the risk that some data centers could sit idle. “Companies would love to build 10 years’ worth of data center capacity within one or two years,” Semiconductor Manufacturing International Corp (SMIC, 中芯) cochief executive officer Zhao Haijun (趙海軍) said yesterday on a call with analysts. “As for what exactly these data centers will do, that hasn’t been fully thought through.” Moody’s Ratings projects that AI-related infrastructure investment would exceed US$3 trillion over the next five years, as developers pour eye-watering sums
Bank of America Corp nearly doubled its forecast for the nation’s economic growth this year, adding to a slew of upgrades even after a rip-roaring last year propelled by demand for artificial intelligence (AI). The firm lifted its projection to 8 percent from 4.5 percent on “relentless global demand” for the hardware that Taiwanese companies make, according to a note dated yesterday by analysts including Xiaoqing Pi (皮曉青). Taiwan’s GDP expanded 8.63 percent last year, the fastest pace since 2010. The increase “reflects our sustained optimism over Taiwan’s technology driven expansion and is reinforced by several recent developments,” including a more stable currency,
NEW IMPORTS: Car dealer PG Union Corp said it would consider introducing US-made models such as the Jeep Grand Cherokee and Stellantis’ RAM 1500 to Taiwan Tesla Taiwan yesterday said that it does not plan to cut its car prices in the wake of Washington and Taipei signing the Agreement on Reciprocal Trade on Thursday to eliminate tariffs on US-made cars. On the other hand, Mercedes-Benz Taiwan said it is planning to lower the price of its five models imported from the US after the zero tariff comes into effect. Tesla in a statement said it has no plan to adjust the prices of the US-made Model 3, Model S and Model X as tariffs are not the only factor the automaker uses to determine pricing policies. Tesla said
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