The US dollar rose from a 13-year low against the yen on speculation the Bush administration would use funds intended for financial institutions to rescue General Motors Corp and Chrysler LLC.
The yen pared its gain against major currencies on speculation investors will sell higher-yielding assets and pay back low-cost loans in Japan’s currency at a slower pace. The British pound weakened to a record low against the euro for a fifth day after HBOS Plc said bad loans will keep rising as credit conditions deteriorate.
The dollar traded at ¥91.07 in New York, compared with ¥91.45 the previous day, after dropping as much as 3.2 percent to ¥88.53, the lowest level since August 1995. The euro fell 0.2 percent to ¥121.82 from 122.09. The currency was quoted at US$1.3377, compared with US$1.3352.
Meanwhile, Asian currencies climbed this week, led by the South Korean won and the Indonesian rupiah, on optimism that interest-rate cuts and economic stimulus plans would revive demand for emerging-market assets.
All of the 10 most-active regional currencies strengthened this week as the Dollar Index slumped the most in at least a decade. The Malaysian ringgit touched a one-month high and the Philippine peso reached the strongest since Oct. 15.
South Korea, Japan and China said they enhanced their currency swap arrangements to ensure stability in the foreign-exchange market.
The won rose as much as 10 percent, the most since October, before paring gains to 7.5 percent to 1,372.50 per dollar, Seoul Money Brokerage Services Ltd said.
The yuan strengthened 0.56 percent last week to 6.8427 a dollar in Shanghai from 6.8812 at the end of last week, according to the China Foreign Exchange Trade System.
Thailand’s baht capped its best week in more than a year as the biggest cut in interest rates on record spurred optimism the economy will weather the global slump.
Malaysia’s ringgit headed for its biggest weekly gain since the end of a dollar peg in 2005, rising 1.5 percent this week to 3.5825.
The New Taiwan dollar advanced 0.7 percent to NT$33.315 against the US currency. The Philippine peso climbed 2 percent to 48.105.
US President Donald Trump yesterday announced sweeping "reciprocal tariffs" on US trading partners, including a 32 percent tax on goods from Taiwan that is set to take effect on Wednesday. At a Rose Garden event, Trump declared a 10 percent baseline tax on imports from all countries, with the White House saying it would take effect on Saturday. Countries with larger trade surpluses with the US would face higher duties beginning on Wednesday, including Taiwan (32 percent), China (34 percent), Japan (24 percent), South Korea (25 percent), Vietnam (46 percent) and Thailand (36 percent). Canada and Mexico, the two largest US trading
AIR SUPPORT: The Ministry of National Defense thanked the US for the delivery, adding that it was an indicator of the White House’s commitment to the Taiwan Relations Act Deputy Minister of National Defense Po Horng-huei (柏鴻輝) and Representative to the US Alexander Yui on Friday attended a delivery ceremony for the first of Taiwan’s long-awaited 66 F-16C/D Block 70 jets at a Lockheed Martin Corp factory in Greenville, South Carolina. “We are so proud to be the global home of the F-16 and to support Taiwan’s air defense capabilities,” US Representative William Timmons wrote on X, alongside a photograph of Taiwanese and US officials at the event. The F-16C/D Block 70 jets Taiwan ordered have the same capabilities as aircraft that had been upgraded to F-16Vs. The batch of Lockheed Martin
China's military today said it began joint army, navy and rocket force exercises around Taiwan to "serve as a stern warning and powerful deterrent against Taiwanese independence," calling President William Lai (賴清德) a "parasite." The exercises come after Lai called Beijing a "foreign hostile force" last month. More than 10 Chinese military ships approached close to Taiwan's 24 nautical mile (44.4km) contiguous zone this morning and Taiwan sent its own warships to respond, two senior Taiwanese officials said. Taiwan has not yet detected any live fire by the Chinese military so far, one of the officials said. The drills took place after US Secretary
THUGGISH BEHAVIOR: Encouraging people to report independence supporters is another intimidation tactic that threatens cross-strait peace, the state department said China setting up an online system for reporting “Taiwanese independence” advocates is an “irresponsible and reprehensible” act, a US government spokesperson said on Friday. “China’s call for private individuals to report on alleged ‘persecution or suppression’ by supposed ‘Taiwan independence henchmen and accomplices’ is irresponsible and reprehensible,” an unnamed US Department of State spokesperson told the Central News Agency in an e-mail. The move is part of Beijing’s “intimidation campaign” against Taiwan and its supporters, and is “threatening free speech around the world, destabilizing the Indo-Pacific region, and deliberately eroding the cross-strait status quo,” the spokesperson said. The Chinese Communist Party’s “threats
RSS