The US dollar on Friday held steady against a basket of currencies, posting its strongest weekly gain in seven months, as traders piled into the greenback in a safe-haven move on worries about a weakening global economy.
The euro hovered at a two-week low with support at US$1.13. The single currency was briefly set for its steepest weekly drop in four months earlier on Friday in the wake of data that showed an economic slowdown in Europe was spreading.
“The rally that propelled the dollar broadly higher last year has enjoyed renewed life with US growth remaining solid while peers abroad lose momentum,” said Joe Manimbo, senior market analyst at Western Union Business Solutions in Washington.
The US dollar index, which tracks the greenback versus the euro, yen, sterling and three other currencies rose 0.07 percent to 96.64.
For the week, the index rose 1.1 percent, its biggest weekly increase since a 1.28 percent jump in the week of Aug. 10 last year.
The euro fell about 0.05 percent to US$1.133, putting its weekly decline at about 0.9 percent.
The European Commission on Thursday cut its growth and inflation forecasts as downside surprises to German and Spanish industrial orders fueled worries about an accelerating slowdown.
Those figure have weighed on local bond markets.
Core European government debt yields touched their lowest in over two years. Benchmark German yields were just 10 basis points away from zero percent.
With Chinese markets closed this week for Lunar New Year, market volatility declined.
Implied volatility in the euro, or expected swings in the single currency in a month, fell earlier this week to its lowest level since December 2017 before rebounding, according to Refinitiv data.
Anxieties about the global economy were compounded by comments from US President Donald Trump saying that he did not plan to meet with Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) before a March 1 deadline to achieve a trade deal.
That helped the perceived safe-haven currencies, such as the Japanese yen and the Swiss Franc, hold up against the US dollar.
The US dollar on Friday slipped to ￥109.75, but rose 0.2 percent for the week, while it fell 0.22 percent against the Swiss franc to SF1.00025.
Sterling was marginally lower at US$1.29, down 1.1 percent for the week.
Traders expect the pound to remain volatile because of the uncertainty surrounding Brexit.
The markets in Taiwan were closed for the Lunar New Year holiday.
Additional reporting by staff writer
FALLING BEHIND: Samsung shares have declined more than 20 percent this year, as the world’s largest chipmaker struggles in key markets and plays catch-up to rival SK Hynix Samsung Electronics Co is laying off workers in Southeast Asia, Australia and New Zealand as part of a plan to reduce its global headcount by thousands of jobs, sources familiar with the situation said. The layoffs could affect about 10 percent of its workforces in those markets, although the numbers for each subsidiary might vary, said one of the sources, who asked not to be named because the matter is private. Job cuts are planned for other overseas subsidiaries and could reach 10 percent in certain markets, the source said. The South Korean company has about 147,000 in staff overseas, more than half
Taipei is today suspending its US$2.5 trillion stock market as Super Typhoon Krathon approaches Taiwan with strong winds and heavy rain. The nation is not conducting securities, currency or fixed-income trading, statements from its stock and currency exchanges said. Yesterday, schools and offices were closed in several cities and counties in southern and eastern Taiwan, including in the key industrial port city of Kaohsiung. Taiwan, which started canceling flights, ship sailings and some train services earlier this week, has wind and rain advisories in place for much of the island. It regularly experiences typhoons, and in July shut offices and schools as
An Indian factory producing iPhone components resumed work yesterday after a fire that halted production — the third blaze to disrupt Apple Inc’s local supply chain since the start of last year. Local industrial behemoth Tata Group’s plant in Tamil Nadu, which was shut down by the unexplained fire on Saturday, is a key linchpin of Apple’s nascent supply chain in the country. A spokesperson for subsidiary Tata Electronics Pvt yesterday said that the company would restart work in “many areas of the facility today.” “We’ve been working diligently since Saturday to support our team and to identify the cause of the fire,”
TECH PARTNERSHIP: The deal with Arizona-based Amkor would provide TSMC with advanced packing and test capacities, a requirement to serve US customers Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) is collaborating with Amkor Technology Inc to provide local advanced packaging and test capacities in Arizona to address customer requirements for geographical flexibility in chip manufacturing. As part of the agreement, TSMC, the world’s biggest contract chipmaker, would contract turnkey advanced packaging and test services from Amkor at their planned facility in Peoria, Arizona, a joint statement released yesterday said. TSMC would leverage these services to support its customers, particularly those using TSMC’s advanced wafer fabrication facilities in Phoenix, Arizona, it said. The companies would jointly define the specific packaging technologies, such as TSMC’s Integrated
RSS