Despite strong market expectation of gradual gains in the New Taiwan dollar, the currency yesterday declined by NT$0.079 to close at NT$33.179 against the US dollar on the Taipei foreign exchange market.
But market watchers believe that there is still room for the NT dollar to gain.
"It's likely that the NT dollar may continue to climb and break through the NT$33 level by the end of this month," said Yang Kung-yi (
Local exporters yesterday rushed to dump the US dollar while foreign investors stepped in to overbuy the local currency by NT$8.7 billion, triggering a roller-coaster fluctuation in the foreign exchange market, Yang said.
But another currency trader, who refused to be identified, said the NT dollar may remain stable before the presidential election as the Japanese yen also stabilizes.
The inflow of hot money, as a result of overseas investors' optimism in Asian stock performance, will build up pressures for the NT dollar to strengthen, Yang said.
The NT dollar yesterday pared a decline of as much as 0.7 percent after central bank Governor Perng Fai-nan (彭淮南) told lawmakers that stability in the currency will be maintained, while suggesting exporters buy forward contracts on the NT dollar to hedge future exchange risk.
Speaking at the legislature's Finance Committee, Perng said that the NT dollar's recent appreciation has outdone other Asian currencies including the yen and Korean won.
The NT dollar has gained 2.99 percent from a year earlier to close at NT$33.978 against the US dollar at the end of last year, Perng said. By last Friday, the NT dollar had gained another 2.56 percent to close at NT$33.13, he noted.
People First Party Legislator Thomas Lee (
Perng agreed, saying that the bank's stance is to disallow any in-and-out flow of short-term capital, or so-called hot money, to disturb the foreign-exchange market's stability. He also vowed to adhere to market principles.
"Should any irregular factors disturb the market, the central bank is ready to step into the market to maintain the dynamic stability of the exchange rate," Perng said.
The bank recently detected and corrected a high-tech firm, which used past invoices to purchase foreign-exchange forwards, he said.
According to Perng, as of Tuesday, the inflow of foreign capital has reached US$71 billion, amounting to 14.62 percent of the stock market.
Perng added that he believes foreign investors are more interested in speculating on the up to 7 percent daily fluctuation on the stock market than the foreign-exchange market, which he said is relatively stable.
Super Typhoon Kong-rey is the largest cyclone to impact Taiwan in 27 years, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said today. Kong-rey’s radius of maximum wind (RMW) — the distance between the center of a cyclone and its band of strongest winds — has expanded to 320km, CWA forecaster Chang Chun-yao (張竣堯) said. The last time a typhoon of comparable strength with an RMW larger than 300km made landfall in Taiwan was Typhoon Herb in 1996, he said. Herb made landfall between Keelung and Suao (蘇澳) in Yilan County with an RMW of 350km, Chang said. The weather station in Alishan (阿里山) recorded 1.09m of
NO WORK, CLASS: President William Lai urged people in the eastern, southern and northern parts of the country to be on alert, with Typhoon Kong-rey approaching Typhoon Kong-rey is expected to make landfall on Taiwan’s east coast today, with work and classes canceled nationwide. Packing gusts of nearly 300kph, the storm yesterday intensified into a typhoon and was expected to gain even more strength before hitting Taitung County, the US Navy’s Joint Typhoon Warning Center said. The storm is forecast to cross Taiwan’s south, enter the Taiwan Strait and head toward China, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. The CWA labeled the storm a “strong typhoon,” the most powerful on its scale. Up to 1.2m of rainfall was expected in mountainous areas of eastern Taiwan and destructive winds are likely
The Central Weather Administration (CWA) yesterday at 5:30pm issued a sea warning for Typhoon Kong-rey as the storm drew closer to the east coast. As of 8pm yesterday, the storm was 670km southeast of Oluanpi (鵝鑾鼻) and traveling northwest at 12kph to 16kph. It was packing maximum sustained winds of 162kph and gusts of up to 198kph, the CWA said. A land warning might be issued this morning for the storm, which is expected to have the strongest impact on Taiwan from tonight to early Friday morning, the agency said. Orchid Island (Lanyu, 蘭嶼) and Green Island (綠島) canceled classes and work
KONG-REY: A woman was killed in a vehicle hit by a tree, while 205 people were injured as the storm moved across the nation and entered the Taiwan Strait Typhoon Kong-rey slammed into Taiwan yesterday as one of the biggest storms to hit the nation in decades, whipping up 10m waves, triggering floods and claiming at least one life. Kong-rey made landfall in Taitung County’s Chenggong Township (成功) at 1:40pm, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. The typhoon — the first in Taiwan’s history to make landfall after mid-October — was moving north-northwest at 21kph when it hit land, CWA data showed. The fast-moving storm was packing maximum sustained winds of 184kph, with gusts of up to 227kph, CWA data showed. It was the same strength as Typhoon Gaemi, which was the most
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