The New Taiwan dollar on Friday rose against the US dollar, gaining NT$0.067 to close at NT$29.523.
Turnover totaled US$764 million during the trading session.
The greenback opened at the day’s high of NT$29.600 and moved to a low of NT$29.476 before rebounding.
For the week, the NT dollar gained NT$0.248 from a close of NT$29.848 on Dec. 29 last year, an increase of 0.8 percent.
Elsewhere on Friday, the euro held near four-month highs as eurozone inflation data printed modestly, in line with forecasts.
However, sentiment remained bullish, with some investors betting the European Central Bank (ECB) might have to start withdrawing its stimulus policies earlier than expected as the bloc’s economy strengthens.
Prices last month rose 1.4 percent year-on-year, or 10 basis points slower than in November last year due to smaller increases in food and energy prices.
With the US dollar failing to draw any strength from this week’s manufacturing and private payrolls data and two US interest rate hikes already baked into market expectations, traders believe there is more upside for the euro.
Last month’s eurozone inflation data underlined that price pressures will have to pick up meaningfully in the bloc before the ECB starts to withdraw policy stimulus rapidly.
“Any rate debate at the ECB is unlikely to be very lively, even if GDP growth is healthy,” HSBC strategists wrote in an outlook note.
On Friday, the euro was broadly steady at US$1.2060, just shy of a high of US$1.2092 in September last year and on track for a third consecutive week of gains.
A break above that level would take the single currency to its highest since January 2015.
Any near-term shift in the ECB’s policy stance would be a surprise for financial markets, which expect policymakers to wind down their bond purchases later in the year.
“Currency markets broadly know what the [US Federal Reserve] is going to do this year, but the ECB monetary policy may be the surprise package of 2018,” SEB senior foreign exchange strategist Richard Falkenhall said in Stockholm.
Money markets expect the Fed to raise interest rates two times this year, compared with a Fed forecast of three times.
In contrast, markets do not expect any change in interest rates in Europe until next year, although some of those expectations might have been slightly brought forward over the past few days after comments by senior ECB policymakers.
The ECB might end its stimulus program this year if the eurozone economy continues to grow strongly, ECB Governing Council member Ewald Nowotny told a German newspaper.
“Market participants might bank on the ECB following in the Fed’s footsteps earlier after all if the economic environment improves further, which would be a reason to prefer the euro over the [US] dollar,” Commerzbank AG strategists said in a note.
Weighed down by its weakness against the euro, the US dollar’s index against a basket of six major currencies was poised for a loss of 0.3 percent this week.
It probed a three-month low of 91.751 on Tuesday and stood at 91.996, headed for its third week of losses.
The US currency’s lack of traction was highlighted overnight as it failed to draw support from a stronger-than-expected jobs report.
US private employers last month added 250,000 jobs, ADP Research Institute data showed, the biggest monthly increase since March last year.
Also weighing on the US dollar was a renewed flattening of the US yield curve with the spread of 10-year US Treasuries over two-year debt falling to less than 50 basis points, its lowest in more than a decade.
Additional reporting by staff writer
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