The New Taiwan dollar on Friday rose against the US dollar, gaining NT$0.043 to close at NT$30.802, with turnover totaling US$550 million during the trading session.
That compared with a close of NT$30.708 on Aug. 10.
The NT dollar opened at the day’s low of NT$30.820 and moved to a high of NT$30.761 before rebounding.
Elsewhere on Friday, the US dollar fell against a basket of peers amid lower demand for the safe-haven greenback, as traders hoped next week’s trade talks between the US and China would ease tensions between the two countries.
Easing worries over the fallout from a recent slide of the Turkish lira also helped strengthen the euro against the US dollar.
The US dollar index, which measures the greenback against a basket of six other currencies, was down 0.33 percent at 96.327, on pace for its third straight day of declines. The index remained just shy of the more than 13-month high of 96.984 hit on Wednesday.
“There was considerable risk aversion through the early part of the week, with fears of Turkish contagion weighing on risk assets, and that seems to have reversed somewhat here,” Cambridge Global Payments strategist Karl Schamotta said in Toronto.
The plunge by the lira and concerns over China’s economic health hit emerging-market currencies this week, boosting the US dollar.
The lira on Friday snapped a three-day rebound, sliding more than 5 percent against the US dollar on worries about the threat of more US economic sanctions unless Turkey hands over detained US evangelical pastor Andrew Brunson.
Next week’s lower-level trade talks between China and the US offer some hope that the two countries will find a way to head off a full-blown trade war.
“Although the chances of a breakthrough deal from lower-level talks are seen as unlikely, the meeting could be a positive step towards easing trade tensions between the world’s two largest economies,” London-based futures brokerage FXTM research analyst Lukman Otunuga said in a note.
The euro rebounded from a more than 13-month low touched earlier this week and was 0.22 percent higher at US$1.14.
The common currency came under pressure over the past few days as investors fretted about eurozone bank exposure to Turkey.
The Japanese yen and the Swiss franc, which tend to rise in times of geopolitical and financial tensions, were higher on Friday.
“There has been a flight to safety through the week that lifted both these currencies up and is keeping both of them stable,” Schamotta said.
The Canadian dollar gained against its US counterpart after the country’s annual inflation rate accelerated by more than expected, increasing prospects that the Bank of Canada might raise interest rates next month.
Among the rows of vibrators, rubber torsos and leather harnesses at a Chinese sex toys exhibition in Shanghai this weekend, the beginnings of an artificial intelligence (AI)-driven shift in the industry quietly pulsed. China manufactures about 70 percent of the world’s sex toys, most of it the “hardware” on display at the fair — whether that be technicolor tentacled dildos or hyper-realistic personalized silicone dolls. Yet smart toys have been rising in popularity for some time. Many major European and US brands already offer tech-enhanced products that can enable long-distance love, monitor well-being and even bring people one step closer to
Malaysia’s leader yesterday announced plans to build a massive semiconductor design park, aiming to boost the Southeast Asian nation’s role in the global chip industry. A prominent player in the semiconductor industry for decades, Malaysia accounts for an estimated 13 percent of global back-end manufacturing, according to German tech giant Bosch. Now it wants to go beyond production and emerge as a chip design powerhouse too, Malaysian Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim said. “I am pleased to announce the largest IC (integrated circuit) Design Park in Southeast Asia, that will house world-class anchor tenants and collaborate with global companies such as Arm [Holdings PLC],”
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Sales in the retail, and food and beverage sectors last month continued to rise, increasing 0.7 percent and 13.6 percent respectively from a year earlier, setting record highs for the month of March, the Ministry of Economic Affairs said yesterday. Sales in the wholesale sector also grew last month by 4.6 annually, mainly due to the business opportunities for emerging applications related to artificial intelligence (AI) and high-performance computing technologies, the ministry said in a report. The ministry forecast that retail, and food and beverage sales this month would retain their growth momentum as the former would benefit from Tomb Sweeping Day