Asian currencies strengthened this week, led by South Korea’s won and the Indonesian rupiah, as a global stocks rally spurred demand for emerging-market assets.
The won gained the most in almost three months against the dollar and the rupiah climbed for the first week in nine after Bank of America Corp, JPMorgan Chase & Co and Citigroup Inc said they were profitable.
The Bloomberg-JPMorgan Asia Dollar Index had its best weekly advance this year after the US, the region’s biggest export market, reported a smaller drop in last month’s retail sales than economists forecast.
The won was at 1,483.50 per dollar as of 3pm in Seoul on Friday, 4.5 percent higher than a week ago.
The rupiah rose 0.9 percent this week to 11,978.
The Asia Dollar Index climbed 0.7 percent this week, its best performance since the period ended Dec. 19.
Malaysia’s ringgit gained 0.3 percent this week to 3.7055 per dollar in Kuala Lumpur.
The Malaysian government on Tuesday announced a US$16 billion economic stimulus plan to help sustain growth.
The US, Japan, Singapore, Hong Kong and Taiwan are all already in recession.
The rupee was at 51.5875 per dollar in Mumbai, up 0.2 percent from a week ago.
The New Taiwan dollar rose 0.8 percent this week to NT$34.495 versus the US currency, Singapore’s strengthened 0.3 percent to S$1.5422 and the Thai baht climbed 0.4 percent to 35.94.
The Philippine peso and Vietnam’s dong were both little changed at 48.550 and 17,482.50, respectively.
The US dollar was slightly lower against the euro and the pound on Friday as China’s premier warned the US not to let the dollar get too weak through massive deficit spending.
The euro traded at US$1.2898, up from US$1.2862, while the British pound gained to US$1.3970 from US$1.3909.
The dollar edged up to ¥98.04 from ¥97.99.
On Friday, the US Commerce Department said the US trade deficit dropped to a six-year low in January as imports, especially of crude oil, slid. The trade imbalance stood at US$36 billion in January, down nearly 10 percent from the month prior. It stands to contract from last year if the pace keeps on — even as US exports are dropping, imports are falling even more sharply.
In 2007, the US trade deficit narrowed after setting records for five years in a row.
A smaller trade imbalance is a long-term positive for the dollar, Bank of New York Mellon Corp senior currency strategist Michael Woolfolk said.
The trade deficit with China rose 3.5 percent, however, to US$20.6 billion.
In other New York trading, the greenback rose to 1.1890 Swiss francs from SF1.1880 late on Thursday, and slipped to C$1.2747 from C$1.2788.
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’