Asian currencies declined this week, led by South Korea’s won, on speculation record oil prices will dampen growth in Asia and prompt overseas funds to sell assets.
The won had its biggest weekly loss in a month as South Korean Finance Minister Kang Man-soo said the country faced mounting difficulties stemming from surging oil prices, with crude trading near a record US$139.12 a barrel. Six of the 10 most-traded Asian currencies outside of Japan fell this week.
South Korea’s currency fell 1.7 percent this week to 1,041 against the US dollar as of the 3pm close in Seoul on Friday, according to Seoul Money Brokerage Services Ltd. The won has dropped 10.1 percent versus the dollar this year, the second-worst performer in the region.
The New Taiwan dollar fell 0.4 percent to NT$30.451 against the US currency this week.
Singapore’s dollar lost 1.1 percent to S$1.3791, while Indonesia’s rupiah traded little changed at 9,313.
Malaysia’s ringgit fell for a third week on concern investors will sell local assets as the government braces for public protests against its fuel-price increase.
The ringgit traded at 3.277 per US dollar compared with 3.2585 last week, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.
The Philippine peso rose 0.2 percent to 44.4 per US dollar on Friday, according to Tullett Prebon PLC.
It has dropped 0.8 percent in the past five trading sessions, rounding off its ninth weekly loss.
The peso may fall to 45.80 next quarter as investors lose confidence in the nation’s ability to manage its budget, JPMorgan Chase & Co said.
Elsewhere, the Vietnamese dong slumped 2.1 percent this week to 16,620 as the central bank set a 2 percent weaker reference rate on June 11 to curb currency speculation.
Thailand’s baht lost 0.2 percent to 33.21 per dollar.
DISCONTENT: The CCP finds positive content about the lives of the Chinese living in Taiwan threatening, as such video could upset people in China, an expert said Chinese spouses of Taiwanese who make videos about their lives in Taiwan have been facing online threats from people in China, a source said yesterday. Some young Chinese spouses of Taiwanese make videos about their lives in Taiwan, often speaking favorably about their living conditions in the nation compared with those in China, the source said. However, the videos have caught the attention of Chinese officials, causing the spouses to come under attack by Beijing’s cyberarmy, they said. “People have been messing with the YouTube channels of these Chinese spouses and have been harassing their family members back in China,”
The Central Weather Administration (CWA) yesterday said there are four weather systems in the western Pacific, with one likely to strengthen into a tropical storm and pose a threat to Taiwan. The nascent tropical storm would be named Usagi and would be the fourth storm in the western Pacific at the moment, along with Typhoon Yinxing and tropical storms Toraji and Manyi, the CWA said. It would be the first time that four tropical cyclones exist simultaneously in November, it added. Records from the meteorology agency showed that three tropical cyclones existed concurrently in January in 1968, 1991 and 1992.
GEOPOLITICAL CONCERNS: Foreign companies such as Nissan, Volkswagen and Konica Minolta have pulled back their operations in China this year Foreign companies pulled more money from China last quarter, a sign that some investors are still pessimistic even as Beijing rolls out stimulus measures aimed at stabilizing growth. China’s direct investment liabilities in its balance of payments dropped US$8.1 billion in the third quarter, data released by the Chinese State Administration of Foreign Exchange showed on Friday. The gauge, which measures foreign direct investment (FDI) in China, was down almost US$13 billion for the first nine months of the year. Foreign investment into China has slumped in the past three years after hitting a record in 2021, a casualty of geopolitical tensions,
‘SOMETHING SPECIAL’: Donald Trump vowed to reward his supporters, while President William Lai said he was confident the Taiwan-US partnership would continue Donald Trump was elected the 47th president of the US early yesterday morning, an extraordinary comeback for a former president who was convicted of felony charges and survived two assassination attempts. With a win in Wisconsin, Trump cleared the 270 electoral votes needed to clinch the presidency. As of press time last night, The Associated Press had Trump on 277 electoral college votes to 224 for US Vice President Kamala Harris, the Democratic Party’s nominee, with Alaska, Arizona, Maine, Michigan and Nevada yet to finalize results. He had 71,289,216 votes nationwide, or 51 percent, while Harris had 66,360,324 (47.5 percent). “We’ve been through so
RSS