India’s rupee led gains in Asian currencies, completing its best week in 12 years, on signs overseas funds are returning to buy local assets aided by cuts in borrowing costs by global central banks.
Seven of the 10 most-active currencies in Asia excluding the yen strengthened this week as the MSCI Asia-Pacific Index rose 1.2 percent, extending last week’s 6 percent advance.
The rupee climbed 3.8 percent to 47.66 per US dollar in Mumbai, from 49.4575 on Oct. 31, data compiled by Bloomberg show. That is the biggest weekly gain since March 1996. Thailand’s baht and the Philippine peso strengthened 0.3 percent to 34.96 and 48.81 respectively in the week.
The New Taiwan dollar gained for a second week, the longest winning streak in more than three months.
“It’s difficult to see further weakening in the Taiwan dollar,” said Daniel Soh, an economist at Forecast Pte in Singapore. “The cross-strait policy measures will provide some support to the currency, as this is positive to the economies on both sides.”
The NT dollar rose 0.5 percent to NT$32.824 against the dollar, from NT$33 on Oct. 31, according to Taipei Forex Inc.
The yen headed for weekly gains against the euro and the British pound on speculation global interest-rate cuts will make it less attractive to purchase overseas assets using funds from Japan.
The yen rose to ¥124.46 versus the euro in London from ¥125.30 at the end of last week. It climbed to ¥153.87 versus the pound, from ¥158.28 last week.
Indonesia’s rupiah reversed Friday’s losses to end the week stronger. The rupiah rose 0.7 percent to 10,900 a dollar, from 10,975 a week earlier, Bloomberg data show.
South Korea’s won declined 2.8 percent this week to 1,328.80 per dollar, taking this year’s loss to 30 percent, the worst performance among the 10 most-traded Asian currencies outside Japan.
Elsewhere, the Vietnamese dong dropped 0.9 percent this week to 16,984 against the US dollar after the central bank widened the daily trading band for the currency to 3 percent from 2 percent. The Malaysian ringgit weakened 0.2 percent to 3.5520.
GEARING UP: An invasion would be difficult and would strain China’s forces, but it has conducted large-scale training supporting an invasion scenario, the report said China increased its military pressure on Taiwan last year and took other steps in preparation for a potential invasion, an annual report published by the US Department of Defense on Wednesday showed. “Throughout 2023, Beijing continued to erode longstanding norms in and around Taiwan by employing a range of pressure tactics against Taiwan,” the report said, which is titled “Military and Security Developments Involving the People’s Republic of China (PRC) 2024.” The Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA) “is preparing for a contingency to unify Taiwan with the PRC by force, if perceived as necessary by Beijing, while simultaneously deterring, delaying or denying
‘ONE BRIDGE’: The US president-elect met with Akie Abe on Dec. 15 in Florida and the two discussed a potential Taiwan-China conflict’s implications for world peace US president-elect Donald Trump has described Taiwan as “a major issue for world peace” during a meeting with Akie Abe, the widow of late Japanese prime minister Shinzo Abe, Japanese newspaper the Yomiuri Shimbun quoted sources as saying in a report yesterday. Trump met with Akie Abe on Dec. 15 at the Mar-a-Lago estate in Florida, where the two discussed the Russo-Ukrainian war and the situation in the Taiwan Strait. During the meeting, Trump spoke on the implications for world peace of a potential Taiwan-China conflict, which “indicated his administration’s stance of placing importance on dealing with the situation in
QUICK LOOK: The amendments include stricter recall requirements and Constitutional Court procedures, as well as a big increase in local governments’ budgets Portions of controversial amendments to tighten requirements for recalling officials and Constitutional Court procedures were passed by opposition lawmakers yesterday following clashes between lawmakers in the morning, as Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) members tried to block Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) legislators from entering the chamber. Parts of the Public Officials Election and Recall Act (公職人員選舉罷免法) and Constitutional Court Procedure Act (憲法訴訟法) passed the third reading yesterday. The legislature was still voting on various amendments to the Act Governing the Allocation of Government Revenues and Expenditures (財政收支劃分法) as of press time last night, after the session was extended to midnight. Amendments to Article 4
ALLIANCE: Washington continues to implement its policy of normalizing arms sales to Taiwan and helps enhance its defense, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said US President Joe Biden on Friday agreed to provide US$571.3 million in defense support for Taiwan, the White House said, while the US State Department approved the potential sale of US$265 million in military equipment. Biden had delegated to the secretary of state the authority “to direct the drawdown of up to US$571.3 million in defense articles and services of the Department of Defense, and military education and training, to provide assistance to Taiwan,” the White House said in a statement. However, it did not provide specific details about this latest package, which was the third of its kind to
RSS