The nation’s foreign exchange reserves last month increased by US$9.41 billion from the previous month to US$552.2 billion, the central bank said in a statement yesterday.
That marked a second straight month of increases, as well as the largest expansion since January last year, reflecting the resumption of net foreign capital inflows since October.
The central bank said it had intervened in the local foreign exchange market to keep the New Taiwan dollar’s fluctuations within a manageable range.
Photo: Reuters
Last month, the NT dollar appreciated 4.23 percent against the US dollar, the largest increase in 24 years, the bank’s data showed.
Returns from the bank’s management of reserve assets and changes in the exchange rates of other reserve currencies against the US dollar also contributed to the increase in the nation’s foreign exchange reserves, the central bank said.
Based on the bank’s tallies, last month, the yen surged 6.57 percent against the US dollar on a monthly basis, while the Swiss franc gained 4.56 percent and the Australian dollar advanced 4.25 percent.
The euro rose 3.84 percent, the British pound gained 3.22 percent, the Singaporean dollar grew 2.85 percent, the Chinese yuan edged up 1.87 percent and the Canadian dollar was up 0.31 percent against the greenback, the data showed.
Due to geopolitical concerns, foreign investors have mainly reduced their holdings of risky assets this year, contributing to declines in the NT dollar and Taiwanese equities.
However, statistics released by the Financial Supervisory Commission yesterday showed that net fund inflow by foreign investors reached US$9.2 billion last month, following a net inflow of US$463 million in October.
Due to price corrections, the market value of securities investments and deposits held by foreign portfolio investors reached US$514.8 last month, equivalent to 93 percent of foreign exchange reserves, compared with 76 percent the previous month, the central bank said.
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