The US dollar on Friday posted a second week of gains after a turbulent few days when currencies were buffeted by shifting risk appetite, with the market’s focus on next week’s US Federal Reserve meeting.
However, some analysts wondered whether the US dollar’s recent rally might be losing momentum.
The US dollar index, which measures the greenback against a basket of six major currencies, rose slightly for the day to 92.91. For the week, added 0.2 percent, after rising 0.6 percent previously.
However, that was off a three-and-a-half-month high of 93.194 hit on Wednesday, after strong Wall Street earnings helped investors regain some confidence amid earlier worries that the Delta variant of SARS-CoV-2 could derail the global recovery.
In Taipei, the New Taiwan dollar fell against the greenback, losing NT$0.010 to close at NT$28.028, little changed from last week’s NT$28.005.
Risk appetite among investors remained high on Friday, with US stocks rising, US Treasuries selling off, most commodity currencies well-bid on the day and the greenback off its peaks.
“The dollar looks tired especially after the rally of the last few weeks,” said Erik Nelson, macro strategist at Wells Fargo Securities in New York. “It seems to be running out of steam both from a fundamental and technical perspective.”
So far this month, the US dollar has gained 0.6 percent, after rising 2.8 percent last month.
However, Nelson was not convinced that the dollar could hold its gains in the coming weeks given the decline in US Treasury yields.
Since the beginning of this month, US benchmark 10-year Treasury yields have lost 16 basis points, on track for their largest monthly fall since March last year.
Against the safe-harbor yen, the US dollar rose 0.3 percent to ￥110.53.
The Australian dollar — viewed as a proxy for risk appetite — slid 0.1 percent to US$0.7374, posting a fourth straight weekly loss. With half the Australian population under lockdown, economists said the country’s central bank could increase stimulus rather than decrease it at its next policy meeting.
Additional reporting by CNA, with staff writer
South Korea’s equity benchmark yesterday crossed a new milestone just a month after surpassing the once-unthinkable 5,000 mark as surging global memory demand powers the country’s biggest chipmakers. The KOSPI advanced as much as 2.6 percent to a record 6,123, with Samsung Electronics Co and SK Hynix Inc each gaining more than 2 percent. With the benchmark now up 45 percent this year, South Korea’s stock market capitalization has also moved past France’s, following last month’s overtaking of Germany’s. Long overlooked by foreign funds, despite being undervalued, South Korean stocks have now emerged as clear winners in the global market. The so-called “artificial intelligence
NEW IDENTITY: Known for its software, India has expanded into hardware, with its semiconductor industry growing from US$38bn in 2023 to US$45bn to US$50bn India on Saturday inaugurated its first semiconductor assembly and test facility, a milestone in the government’s push to reduce dependence on foreign chipmakers and stake a claim in a sector dominated by China. Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi opened US firm Micron Technology Inc’s semiconductor assembly, test and packaging unit in his home state of Gujarat, hailing the “dawn of a new era” for India’s technology ambitions. “When young Indians look back in the future, they will see this decade as the turning point in our tech future,” Modi told the event, which was broadcast on his YouTube channel. The plant would convert
‘SEISMIC SHIFT’: The researcher forecast there would be about 1.1 billion mobile shipments this year, down from 1.26 billion the prior year and erasing years of gains The global smartphone market is expected to contract 12.9 percent this year due to the unprecedented memorychip shortage, marking “a crisis like no other,” researcher International Data Corp (IDC) said. The new forecast, a dramatic revision down from earlier estimates, gives the latest accounting of the ongoing memory crunch that is affecting every corner of the electronics industry. The demand for advanced memory to power artificial intelligence (AI) tasks has drained global supply until well into next year and jeopardizes the business model of many smartphone makers. IDC forecast about 1.1 billion mobile shipments this year, down from 1.26 billion the prior
People stand in a Pokemon store in Tokyo on Thursday. One of the world highest-grossing franchises is celebrated its 30th anniversary yesterday.
RSS