The dollar was mixed on Friday in quiet trading over the US Thanksgiving holiday weekend.
The euro slid to US$1.2708 in late trading on Friday in New York from US$1.2899 on Wednesday in New York. On Thursday in Europe, when US markets were closed for the Thanksgiving holiday, the euro fetched US$1.2900 in the afternoon.
The British pound rose to US$1.5412 on Friday from US$1.5350 on Wednesday in New York, but was down slightly from its price of US$1.5489 on Thursday in Europe.
Meanwhile, the dollar slipped to ¥95.65 on Friday afternoon from ¥95.73 late on Wednesday. On Thursday, the dollar was worth ¥95.31 in Europe. The yen was quoted at ¥121.22 per euro in Tokyo on Friday from ¥122.89 a day earlier, for a 0.4 percent decline this week.
Currency markets were quiet on Thursday, with US stock markets closed and a shortage of new economic data, and “there’s little in the way of fundamentals that suggest today will be much different,” said James Hughes, a currency analyst at CMC Markets.
In other New York trading, the US dollar rose to 1.2133 Swiss francs on Friday from SF1.2035 late in New York on Wednesday, and gained to C$1.2386 in late trading from C$1.2271 on Wednesday.
South Korea’s won rallied this week, leading gains in Asian currencies, as the nation’s record current-account surplus eased a shortage of dollars.
The won rose 1.8 percent this week to 1,469 per dollar in Seoul, according to Seoul Money Brokerage Services Ltd.
The Philippine peso posted its biggest weekly advance in four months, climbing 1.8 percent on the week to 48.96 a dollar.
Seven of the region’s 10 most-traded currencies excluding the yen strengthened over the past five days as shares rose the most in a month after China’s largest interest-rate cut in 11 years. Indonesia’s rupiah and the Thai baht fell for a third week.
The baht fell 0.7 percent on the week to 35.46 per dollar, the second worst-performing currency after the Indonesian rupiah, which slumped 1.6 percent this week to 12,300.
The Malaysian ringgit was little changed for the week at 3.6250.
The New Taiwan dollar reached as high as NT$33.216 on Friday, up 0.3 percent from the end of last week.
Taiwan aims to open 18 representative offices and seven Taiwan Tourism Information Centers worldwide by next year to attract international visitors, the Tourism Administration said on Saturday. The agency has so far opened three representative offices abroad this year and would open two more before the end of the year, it said. It has also already opened information centers in Jakarta, Mumbai and Paris, and is to open one in Vancouver next month and in Manila in December, it said. Next year, it would also open offices in Amsterdam, Dubai and Sydney, it added. While the Cabinet did not mention international tourists in its
EYES AT SEA: Many marine enthusiasts have expressed interest in volunteering for coastal patrols, which would help identify stowaways and illegal fishing, the CGA said Six thousand coastal patrol volunteers are to be recruited for 159 inspection offices to enhance the nation’s response to “gray zone” conflicts, Coast Guard Administration (CGA) sources said yesterday. Volunteer teams would be established to increase the resilience of coastal defense systems in the wake of two unlawful entries attempted by Chinese over the past three months, Ocean Affairs Council Minister Kuan Bi-ling (管碧玲) said. A former Chinese navy captain drove a motorboat into the Tamsui River (淡水河) in Taipei on the eve of the Dragon Boat Festival in June, while another Chinese man sailed in a rubber boat into the Houkeng
NEXT LEVEL: The defense ministry confirmed that a video released last month featured personnel piloting new FPV drone systems being developed by the Armaments Bureau Taipei and Washington are pushing for their drone companies to work together to establish a China-free supply chain, the Financial Times reported on Friday. A delegation of high-level executives and US government officials were yesterday to arrive in Taipei to discuss with their Taiwanese counterparts collaboration on drone technology procurement and development, the report said. The executives represent 26 US manufacturers of drone and counter-drone systems, while the officials are from the US Department of Commerce and the US Department of Defense’s Defense Innovation Unit, along with Dev Shenoy, principal director for microelectronics in the Office of the Under Secretary of Defense
‘ANONYMOUS 64’: A national security official said that it is an attempt by China to increase domestic anti-Taiwanese sentiment and inflame cross-strait tensions The Ministry of National Defense’s (MND) Information, Communications and Electronic Force Command (ICEFCOM) yesterday denied accusations by China that it had undermined regional security by carrying out cyberattacks against targets in China, adding instead that Beijing was responsible for raising tensions and undermining regional peace. The Chinese Ministry of State Security on WeChat accused a hacker group called “Anonymous 64” of targeting China, Hong Kong and Macau starting earlier this year through frequent cyberattacks. The group carried out cyberattacks to seize control of Web sites, outdoor electronic billboards and video-on-demand platforms in China, Hong Kong and Macau, it said, adding the hackers’