The New Taiwan dollar may advance to an 11-year high in six months as the central bank allows further gains to stem inflation, Goldman Sachs Group Inc said, raising its forecast for the currency.
The NT dollar may strengthen 6.3 percent to NT$28.5, the world’s biggest securities firm said, revising its earlier forecast of NT$30.50. The currency has advanced 6.4 percent in the past three months, the best among 10 most-active currencies in Asia outside Japan.
“The central bank will likely utilize currency appreciation as another policy tool in combating imported inflation,” Goldman’s research team led by London-based Jim O’Neill wrote in a monthly global report received by Bloomberg today. “The interest-rate differential vis-a-vis the US dollar has become more favorable.”
The NT dollar closed 0.2 percent stronger at NT$30.266 onshore against the US currency, according to Taipei Forex Inc. It touched NT$29.95 on March 26, the highest level since October 1997, a day before the central bank raised its benchmark interest rate by 12.5 basis points to 3.5 percent. A basis point is 0.01 percentage point.
Inflation may top a government target of 2 percent this year, the central bank said the same day in a statement, after increasing borrowing costs. Prices gained 3.96 percent in March from a revised 3.87 percent in February, the statistics bureau said on April 7.
Standard & Poor’s raised its debt-rating outlook for Taiwan to stable from negative on April 11, citing reduced risks of tension with China after the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) won the presidential election, pledging closer ties with China.
A stable outlook indicates S&P is more inclined to leave the current rating on Taiwan’s long-term foreign-currency debt at AA-, its fourth-highest.
President-elect Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) pledged to begin easing travel and investment restrictions with China as soon as he takes office on May 20.
“With the overhang of political uncertainty now largely behind us, we expect the fundamental catalysts for the Taiwan dollar to move back into the driver’s seat,” the Goldman report said.
Zhang Yazhou was sitting in the passenger seat of her Tesla Model 3 when she said she heard her father’s panicked voice: The brakes do not work. Approaching a red light, her father swerved around two cars before plowing into a sport utility vehicle and a sedan, and crashing into a large concrete barrier. Stunned, Zhang gazed at the deflating airbag in front of her. She could never have imagined what was to come: Tesla Inc sued her for defamation for complaining publicly about the vehicles brakes — and won. A Chinese court ordered Zhang to pay more than US$23,000 in
Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) yesterday said that its investment plan in Arizona is going according to schedule, following a local media report claiming that the company is planning to break ground on its third wafer fab in the US in June. In a statement, TSMC said it does not comment on market speculation, but that its investments in Arizona are proceeding well. TSMC is investing more than US$65 billion in Arizona to build three advanced wafer fabs. The first one has started production using the 4-nanometer (nm) process, while the second one would start mass production using the
US President Donald Trump has threatened to impose up to 100 percent tariffs on Taiwan’s semiconductor exports to the US to encourage chip manufacturers to move their production facilities to the US, but experts are questioning his strategy, warning it could harm industries on both sides. “I’m very confused and surprised that the Trump administration would try and do this,” Bob O’Donnell, chief analyst and founder of TECHnalysis Research in California, said in an interview with the Central News Agency on Wednesday. “It seems to reflect the fact that they don’t understand how the semiconductor industry really works,” O’Donnell said. Economic sanctions would
‘NO DISRUPTION’: A US trade association said that it was ready to work with the US administration to streamline the program’s requirements and achieve shared goals The White House is seeking to renegotiate US CHIPS and Science Act awards and has signaled delays to some upcoming semiconductor disbursements, two sources familiar with the matter told reporters. The people, along with a third source, said that the new US administration is reviewing the projects awarded under the 2022 law, meant to boost US domestic semiconductor output with US$39 billion in subsidies. Washington plans to renegotiate some of the deals after assessing and changing current requirements, the sources said. The extent of the possible changes and how they would affect agreements already finalized was not immediately clear. It was not known
RSS