The US dollar was slightly higher on Friday, coming off its strongest level for the day, as risk appetite returned to the market in the afternoon with US equities recovering from early losses and Treasury yields extending their rise.
Investors also consolidated gains made on other currencies at the expense of the US dollar ahead of a long weekend in the US.
Financial markets are closed tomorrow for Presidents Day.
The outlook for the US dollar remained lower, according to Marshall Gittler, head of investment research at BDSwiss Group.
The greenback is “considered the safest of safe havens and tends to fall when people are not looking for safe havens,” Gittler said. “With markets rallying and the US Fed on hold indefinitely, I expect the dollar to be widely used as a funding currency, pushing its value down.”
In afternoon trading, the dollar index rose 0.1 percent to 90.494 after subdued volumes in Asia because of the Lunar New Year.
On the week, the index fell 0.6 percent, its first losing week in three — in what ING Groep NV analysts described as a “consolidative mood” amid uncertainty about the pace of the US economic recovery. Weaker-than-expected weekly US jobless claims data on Thursday added to concerns the US dollar’s previous rally had priced in too fast an economic rebound.
The US dollar was up 0.2 percent against the yen at ￥104.97. It fell 0.4 percent on the week, its steepest fall since mid-December.
The euro slipped 0.1 percent to US$1.2116, but on the week, the single European currency rose 0.5 percent. The British pound rose 0.2 percent versus the US dollar to US$1.3848, despite data showing Britain’s economy suffered a record slump last year, although it did grow in the final quarter.
The Australian dollar, a proxy for risk appetite, rallied from lows to trade flat on the day at US$0.7753. The New Zealand dollar likewise cut its losses against the greenback.
To many, Tatu City on the outskirts of Nairobi looks like a success. The first city entirely built by a private company to be operational in east Africa, with about 25,000 people living and working there, it accounts for about two-thirds of all foreign investment in Kenya. Its low-tax status has attracted more than 100 businesses including Heineken, coffee brand Dormans, and the biggest call-center and cold-chain transport firms in the region. However, to some local politicians, Tatu City has looked more like a target for extortion. A parade of governors have demanded land worth millions of dollars in exchange
An Indonesian animated movie is smashing regional box office records and could be set for wider success as it prepares to open beyond the Southeast Asian archipelago’s silver screens. Jumbo — a film based on the adventures of main character, Don, a large orphaned Indonesian boy facing bullying at school — last month became the highest-grossing Southeast Asian animated film, raking in more than US$8 million. Released at the end of March to coincide with the Eid holidays after the Islamic fasting month of Ramadan, the movie has hit 8 million ticket sales, the third-highest in Indonesian cinema history, Film
Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co’s (TSMC, 台積電) revenue jumped 48 percent last month, underscoring how electronics firms scrambled to acquire essential components before global tariffs took effect. The main chipmaker for Apple Inc and Nvidia Corp reported monthly sales of NT$349.6 billion (US$11.6 billion). That compares with the average analysts’ estimate for a 38 percent rise in second-quarter revenue. US President Donald Trump’s trade war is prompting economists to retool GDP forecasts worldwide, casting doubt over the outlook for everything from iPhone demand to computing and datacenter construction. However, TSMC — a barometer for global tech spending given its central role in the
Alchip Technologies Ltd (世芯), an application-specific integrated circuit (ASIC) designer specializing in server chips, expects revenue to decline this year due to sagging demand for 5-nanometer artificial intelligence (AI) chips from a North America-based major customer, a company executive said yesterday. That would be the first contraction in revenue for Alchip as it has been enjoying strong revenue growth over the past few years, benefiting from cloud-service providers’ moves to reduce dependence on Nvidia Corp’s expensive AI chips by building their own AI accelerator by outsourcing chip design. The 5-nanometer chip was supposed to be a new growth engine as the lifecycle
RSS