The New Taiwan dollar on Friday fell against the US dollar, shedding NT$0.060 to close at NT$30.210, sliding 0.6 percent from NT$30.040 a week earlier.
Turnover totaled US$1.525 billion during the trading session.
The greenback opened at NT$30.260 and moved between NT$30.125 and NT$30.290 before the close.
Elsewhere on Friday, the US dollar surged, posting sharp gains against the safe-haven Japanese yen as stock markets recovered globally and investors cheered efforts by governments and policymakers to address the economic fallout from the COVID-19 pandemic.
The US dollar posted its largest daily percentage gain against the yen since April 2013. It also benefited after US President Donald Trump on Friday declared a national emergency over the quickly spreading coronavirus, opening the door to more federal aid to combat the disease.
The greenback extended gains against several currencies after a blowout in swap spreads on Thursday signaled that investors want US dollars. While those spreads came in on Friday, the US dollar held strong.
However, market participants said that signs of US dollar funding stress persist and policymakers probably need to do more.
“Underlying concerns regarding the economic fallout from the coronavirus on credit markets broadly remain,” Toronto-based Bank of Nova Scotia chief foreign exchange strategist Shaun Osborne said.
“It may be tempting to look for signs of a low in global stocks, but with the underlying issue — the coronavirus — still unchecked, we think that is premature at this point,” he said.
The cost of raising US dollar funds in the cross-currency euro swap market on Friday widened again after narrowing the day before on the US Federal Reserve’s announcement that it would inject more liquidity into the banking system, he added.
Wider spreads in the cross-currency basis swap market suggested increased signs of US dollar shortage for corporates seeking funding.
In afternoon trading, the US dollar gained 3.2 percent against the yen to ¥108.03.
Wells Fargo & Co said that it had further upgraded its forecast for the yen against the US dollar as the risk of financial turmoil remains, adding that the greenback would fall to less than ¥100.
“The rate cuts and other policy actions from global central banks have done little to quell market panic. That may be due to the fact that fiscal policymakers have generally been slow to act,” Wells Fargo said in a research note.
The US dollar also rallied versus another safe haven, the Swiss franc, rising 0.6 percent to SF0.9496.
Against a basket of currencies, the US dollar rose 1 percent to 98.467.
The euro nursed losses, despite European Central Bank (ECB) policymakers’ efforts to reassure markets. European assets were on Thursday sold off after investors were underwhelmed by the ECB’s stimulus measures.
The euro was last down 0.7 percent at US$1.1108.
The ECB on Thursday announced a stimulus package that provides loans to banks with rates as low as minus-0.75 percent and increases bond purchases, but it did not join its counterparts in the US and the UK in cutting rates.
The British pound also plunged 2.2 percent against the US dollar to US$1.2290.
The greenback’s rebound this week reflects its role as the world’s most liquid currency, which investors seek in times of stress.
The Fed meets next week and many analysts now expect it to chop its own target policy rate, quite possibly to zero, and give markets new guidance about how it plans to combat the economic fallout from the coronavirus.
Intel Corp chief executive officer Lip-Bu Tan (陳立武) is expected to meet with Taiwanese suppliers next month in conjunction with the opening of the Computex Taipei trade show, supply chain sources said on Monday. The visit, the first for Tan to Taiwan since assuming his new post last month, would be aimed at enhancing Intel’s ties with suppliers in Taiwan as he attempts to help turn around the struggling US chipmaker, the sources said. Tan is to hold a banquet to celebrate Intel’s 40-year presence in Taiwan before Computex opens on May 20 and invite dozens of Taiwanese suppliers to exchange views
Application-specific integrated circuit designer Faraday Technology Corp (智原) yesterday said that although revenue this quarter would decline 30 percent from last quarter, it retained its full-year forecast of revenue growth of 100 percent. The company attributed the quarterly drop to a slowdown in customers’ production of chips using Faraday’s advanced packaging technology. The company is still confident about its revenue growth this year, given its strong “design-win” — or the projects it won to help customers design their chips, Faraday president Steve Wang (王國雍) told an online earnings conference. “The design-win this year is better than we expected. We believe we will win
Chizuko Kimura has become the first female sushi chef in the world to win a Michelin star, fulfilling a promise she made to her dying husband to continue his legacy. The 54-year-old Japanese chef regained the Michelin star her late husband, Shunei Kimura, won three years ago for their Sushi Shunei restaurant in Paris. For Shunei Kimura, the star was a dream come true. However, the joy was short-lived. He died from cancer just three months later in June 2022. He was 65. The following year, the restaurant in the heart of Montmartre lost its star rating. Chizuko Kimura insisted that the new star is still down
While China’s leaders use their economic and political might to fight US President Donald Trump’s trade war “to the end,” its army of social media soldiers are embarking on a more humorous campaign online. Trump’s tariff blitz has seen Washington and Beijing impose eye-watering duties on imports from the other, fanning a standoff between the economic superpowers that has sparked global recession fears and sent markets into a tailspin. Trump says his policy is a response to years of being “ripped off” by other countries and aims to bring manufacturing to the US, forcing companies to employ US workers. However, China’s online warriors