The dollar ended mixed on Friday in volatile trading as the markets tried to assess the impact of a grim report showing more massive US job losses, suggesting a long road to economic recovery.
The euro rose to US$1.2652 at 10pm GMT after US$1.2538 late on Thursday in New York. The euro jumped to US$1.2738 just after the announcement of the US jobs figures.
The US dollar edged up to ¥98.27 after ¥98.03 on Thursday.
The US government said the US economy shed 651,000 jobs last month, in line with most forecasts but also underscoring the dire state of the economy as companies axe jobs to cope with an intensifying slump.
The US unemployment rate rose from 7.6 percent in January to 8.1 last month, the highest since December 1983.
Although traders said it was a calamitous report that could signal a delayed economic recovery, some said the market was reassured that it failed to live up to the so-called “whisper number” of 1 million job losses.
“A look at the intraday price action in both the equity and currency markets reveal that traders reacted positively and not negatively to the nonfarm payrolls report,” Kathy Lien at Global Forex Trading said.
Investors on Friday welcomed the Bank of England’s (BOE) announcement that it would become the first European central bank to use “quantitative easing” to boost the money supply.
The BOE on Thursday cut its main rate by half a point to 0.50 percent, the lowest level in its 315-year history, and said it would pump £75 billion (US$106 billion) of newly created money into the financial system to combat a credit crunch.
The European Central Bank meanwhile slashed rates by 50 basis points to 1.5 percent and drastically revised its forecasts, predicting the eurozone economy will shrink 2.7 percent this year.
In late New York trading, the US dollar bought 1.1579 Swiss francs after SF1.1708 on Thursday.
The pound was at US$1.4076 from US$1.4113.
South Korea’s won and the Indian rupee led declines in Asian currencies this week on speculation investors will stay away from emerging-market assets as the global financial slump deepens.
The won posted its fifth weekly drop, approaching an 11-year low, on concern that global market turmoil will make it difficult for banks to raise funds needed to service overseas debt.
Malaysia’s ringgit slid for the fourth week as a government report showed exports tumbled the most in 15 years.
The won fell 1 percent this week to 1,550 per dollar at the 3pm local close, according to Seoul Money Brokerage Services Ltd. The currency touched 1,597, the lowest since 1998.
The rupee declined 1.1 percent to 51.7025 in Mumbai on Friday. The rupiah dropped 0.9 percent this week and traded at 12,090 in Jakarta, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.
The New Taiwan dollar gained 0.5 percent this week to NT$34.780 against the US currency, according to Taipei Forex Inc.
“Political risk declined in Taiwan, as it seems China is really intent on improving the relationship,” said Dariusz Kowalczyk, chief investment strategist at SJS Markets Ltd in Hong Kong. “There’s some relief in the currency market.”
The NT dollar could fall to NT$36 at the end of this month, Kowalczyk said.
The Philippine peso rebounded to 48.52 a dollar on Friday, after touching 49.26 on March 3 in Manila, the lowest level since Dec. 9, according to Tullett Prebon PLC.
Elsewhere, Malaysia’s ringgit ringgit dropped 0.4 percent this week to 3.7175 a dollar, the Thai baht traded at 36.07 versus 36.15 last week and Vietnam’s dong was little changed at 17,481.
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
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