The New Taiwan dollar on Friday fell against the US dollar, shedding NT$0.008 to close at NT$30.594, but gaining 0.1 percent from NT$30.611 on Oct. 18.
Turnover totaled US$703 million during the trading session.
The greenback opened at NT$30.600, and moved between NT$30.566 and NT$30.610 before the close.
Elsewhere, the US dollar strengthened against the pound after Reuters reported that a source close to French President Emmanuel Macron said that an extension to negotiations for Britain’s exit from the EU was not justified at this stage.
“France wants a justified and proportionate extension. However, we have nothing of the sort so far. We must show the British that it is up to them to clarify the situation and that an extension is not a given,” the source said.
Against the pound, the US dollar was up 0.29 percent to US$1.281.
Since hitting a five-and-a-half-month high on Monday, sterling has fallen nearly 1.5 percent after British Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s timetable to pass legislation that would withdraw Britain from the EU was rejected by parliament, the reason for the requested extension.
On Thursday, Johnson called for a general election on Dec. 12 in an effort to break the political deadlock over Brexit.
Despite the uncertainty, the pound’s fall has been limited, as the chance of a “no-deal exit has been all, but eliminated. The pound remains up 4.34 percent this month.
Against the euro, it was down 0.17 percent to £0.8655 per euro.
“There’s still a focus on the UK and sterling, but that’s going to be a feature for a long time,” Credit Suisse Group AG global head of foreign exchange strategy Shahab Jalinoos said.
Apart from the ongoing Brexit saga, Jalinoos said that the international currency market was relatively quiet on Friday.
“At the moment, the market is taking a breather on most fronts. The next event that’s a major focus is the APEC summit in the middle of November, when the market will want to see what transpires from phase-one negotiations between the US and China. That’s far enough in the future that it’s eliminating some reasons to aggressively trade,” Jalinoos said.
The low-volatility environment is encouraging flows into certain higher-yielding assets like emerging markets and out of the funding currencies such as the Swiss franc and the euro, he said.
The single currency was last down 0.14 percent against the US dollar to US$1.109.
Some focus will shift next week to the US Federal Reserve’s two-day policy meeting. The central bank is on Wednesday expected to announce the third interest rate cut of the year.
Money markets have largely priced in a quarter-percentage-point reduction, Refinitiv data showed.
MULTIFACETED: A task force has analyzed possible scenarios and created responses to assist domestic industries in dealing with US tariffs, the economics minister said The Executive Yuan is tomorrow to announce countermeasures to US President Donald Trump’s planned reciprocal tariffs, although the details of the plan would not be made public until Monday next week, Minister of Economic Affairs J.W. Kuo (郭智輝) said yesterday. The Cabinet established an economic and trade task force in November last year to deal with US trade and tariff related issues, Kuo told reporters outside the legislature in Taipei. The task force has been analyzing and evaluating all kinds of scenarios to identify suitable responses and determine how best to assist domestic industries in managing the effects of Trump’s tariffs, he
TIGHT-LIPPED: UMC said it had no merger plans at the moment, after Nikkei Asia reported that the firm and GlobalFoundries were considering restarting merger talks United Microelectronics Corp (UMC, 聯電), the world’s No. 4 contract chipmaker, yesterday launched a new US$5 billion 12-inch chip factory in Singapore as part of its latest effort to diversify its manufacturing footprint amid growing geopolitical risks. The new factory, adjacent to UMC’s existing Singapore fab in the Pasir Res Wafer Fab Park, is scheduled to enter volume production next year, utilizing mature 22-nanometer and 28-nanometer process technologies, UMC said in a statement. The company plans to invest US$5 billion during the first phase of the new fab, which would have an installed capacity of 30,000 12-inch wafers per month, it said. The
Taiwan’s official purchasing managers’ index (PMI) last month rose 0.2 percentage points to 54.2, in a second consecutive month of expansion, thanks to front-loading demand intended to avoid potential US tariff hikes, the Chung-Hua Institution for Economic Research (CIER, 中華經濟研究院) said yesterday. While short-term demand appeared robust, uncertainties rose due to US President Donald Trump’s unpredictable trade policy, CIER president Lien Hsien-ming (連賢明) told a news conference in Taipei. Taiwan’s economy this year would be characterized by high-level fluctuations and the volatility would be wilder than most expect, Lien said Demand for electronics, particularly semiconductors, continues to benefit from US technology giants’ effort
‘SWASTICAR’: Tesla CEO Elon Musk’s close association with Donald Trump has prompted opponents to brand him a ‘Nazi’ and resulted in a dramatic drop in sales Demonstrators descended on Tesla Inc dealerships across the US, and in Europe and Canada on Saturday to protest company chief Elon Musk, who has amassed extraordinary power as a top adviser to US President Donald Trump. Waving signs with messages such as “Musk is stealing our money” and “Reclaim our country,” the protests largely took place peacefully following fiery episodes of vandalism on Tesla vehicles, dealerships and other facilities in recent weeks that US officials have denounced as terrorism. Hundreds rallied on Saturday outside the Tesla dealership in Manhattan. Some blasted Musk, the world’s richest man, while others demanded the shuttering of his