Asian currencies rose against the dollar for a third week as signs a global recession is easing prompt investors to favor riskier assets, helping emerging markets draw funds.
South Korea’s won and Indonesia’s rupiah led the advance on optimism the region’s exports will rebound after Japan reported industrial output grew for the first time in six months and a Chinese gauge of manufacturing climbed for a second month.
The New Taiwan dollar jumped the most in six months on Thursday after Chinese companies were allowed to invest in Taiwan for the first time since 1949.
The NT dollar rose 1.3 percent this week to close at NT$33.233 against the greenback. The currency appreciated 2.1 percent last month, following an advance of 3.1 percent in March.
The won surged 4.7 percent this week to close at 1,282.95 per dollar in Seoul, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. The rupiah climbed 2.1 percent to 10,610.
All regional markets except Indonesia were closed on Friday for the Labor Day holiday. There was no trading in Mumbai on Thursday as well for elections.
The yen traded at 99.17 a dollar after dropping to a two-week low of 99.58 on Friday. It declined to 132.07 per euro on Friday, the lowest since April 14.
The ringgit strengthened 0.8 percent this week to 3.5585 per dollar.
Elsewhere, the Philippine peso gained 0.1 percent this week to 48.360 versus the greenback and the Thai baht rose 0.3 percent to 35.30. China’s yuan was little changed at 6.8230 versus 6.8273 last Friday.
The US dollar dropped as signs of recovery in manufacturing in China and the US sapped demand for the currencies as a refuge.
Australia’s dollar rose for a ninth week against the greenback.
The euro rose 0.9 percent to ¥131.74 at 9:06am in New York on Friday, from ¥130.52 on Thursday, and reached ¥132.35, the highest level since April 14.
The euro on Friday appreciated 0.2 percent to US$1.3253 from US$1.3230 on Thursday.
Japan’s currency fell 2.6 percent versus the euro and 2.3 percent against the dollar this week, the first declines in a month. The US dollar dropped versus the euro for a second week, losing 0.2 percent. The US currency will likely weaken to US$1.40 per euro in six months, Shankar said.
Australia’s currency climbed 1 percent to US$0.7326 and increased 1.7 percent to ¥72.76 as a rally in stocks last month encouraged carry trades.
South Africa’s rand touched 8.4076 per dollar on Friday.
An Emirates flight from Dubai arrived at Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport yesterday afternoon, the first service of the airline since the US and Israel launched strikes against Iran on Saturday. Flight EK366 took off from the United Arab Emirates (UAE) at 3:51am yesterday and landed at 4:02pm before taxiing to the airport’s D6 gate at Terminal 2 at 4:08pm, data from the airport and FlightAware, a global flight tracking site, showed. Of the 501 passengers on the flight, 275 were Taiwanese, including 96 group tour travelers, the data showed. Tourism Administration Deputy Director-General Huang He-ting (黃荷婷) greeted Taiwanese passengers at the airport and
POSSIBILITIES EMERGE: With Taiwan’s victory and Japan’s narrow win over Australia, Taiwan now have a chance to advance if South Korea also beat the Aussies Taiwan has high hopes that the national baseball team would advance to the World Baseball Classic (WBC) quarter-finals after clinching a crucial 5-4 victory over South Korea in a nail-biting extra-inning game at the Tokyo Dome yesterday. Boosted by three home runs — two solo shots by Yu Chang (張育成) and Cheng Tsung-che (鄭宗哲) and a two-run homer by Stuart Fairchild — the triumph gave Taiwan a much-needed second victory in the five-team Pool C, where only the top two finishers would advance to the knockout stage in Miami, Florida. Entering extra innings with the game tied at four apiece, Taiwan scored
STRAIT OF HORMUZ: In the case of a prolonged blockade by Iran, Taiwan would look to sources of LNG outside the Middle East, including Australia and the US Taiwan would not have to ration power due to a shortage of natural gas, Minister of Economic Affairs Kung Ming-hsin (龔明鑫) said yesterday, after reports that the Strait of Hormuz was closed amid the conflict in the Middle East. The government has secured liquefied natural gas (LNG) supplies for this month and contingency measures are in place if the conflict extends into next month, Kung told lawmakers. Saying that 25 percent of Taiwan’s natural gas supplies are from Qatar, Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) caucus secretary-general Lin Pei-hsiang (林沛祥) asked about the situation in light of the conflict. There would be “no problems” with
MISSION OF PEACE: The foreign minister urged Beijing to respect Taiwan’s existence as an independent nation, and work together to ensure peace and stability in the region Minister of Foreign Affairs Lin Chia-lung (林佳龍) yesterday rejected Chinese Minister of Foreign Affairs Wang Yi’s (王毅) comments about Taiwan, criticizing China as a “troublemaker” in the international community and a disruptor of cross-strait peace. Speaking at a news conference on the sidelines of the Chinese National People’s Congress, Wang said that Taiwan has always been a territory of China and that it would be impossible for it to become its own country. The “return” of Taiwan to China was the natural outcome of the Chinese people’s resistance against Japan in World War II, and that any pursuit of independence was “doomed
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