The US dollar was on track to take back a chunk of the past couple weeks’ losses against the European currencies on Friday as turmoil abroad bucked up the world’s still-leading reserve currency.
The 16-nation euro slid to US$1.3304 in late New York trading from US$1.3511 on Thursday, while the pound dropped to US$1.4302 from US$1.4440.
The dollar fell against the yen, however, to ¥98.04 from ¥98.50 late on Thursday.
“The euro zone’s internal wobbles once again returned to the fray,” wrote UBS AG analyst Geoffrey Yu, driving the buck higher as US consumer spending rose for the second month in a row.
Two weeks ago — before the US government announced it would swamp markets with money — the euro traded at US$1.2898, the pound was worth US$1.3970 and the dollar bought ¥98.04.
Asian currencies rose for a fourth week, the longest winning streak in almost a year, as a global stock rally revived investor appetite for emerging-market assets.
South Korea’s won touched a two-month high against the dollar after a central bank report showed the economy shrank less than initially estimated in the fourth quarter. Indonesia’s rupiah strengthened for a third week as overseas investors bought US$120 million more of the country’s equities than they sold this month. The MSCI Asia Pacific Index of regional shares jumped 7.5 percent, the biggest weekly gain since August 2007.
“Asian currencies followed sentiment in the global stock market quite closely,” said Dariusz Kowalczyk, chief investment strategist at SJS Markets Ltd in Hong Kong. “That’s why we had a solid performance this week.”
The won was at 1,349.00 per dollar, 4.7 percent stronger than last week, Seoul Money Brokerage Services Ltd said.
Malaysia’s ringgit gained 0.8 percent this week to 3.6155 and the New Taiwan dollar appreciated 0.1 percent to NT$33.779. The rupiah rose 2.3 percent to 11,500.
The Bloomberg-JPMorgan Asia Dollar Index, which tracks the region’s 10 most-active currencies excluding the yen, had a fourth weekly gain, the longest run since last April. It rose 0.8 percent this week to 104.88.
Eight of the 10 most-active currencies in Asia outside Japan climbed against the greenback.
South Korea’s GDP shrank a revised 5.1 percent in the fourth quarter, the central bank reported yesterday. That was less than the previously reported 5.6 percent decline and follows a 0.2 percent expansion in the three months to September.
A Chinese freighter that allegedly snapped an undersea cable linking Taiwan proper to Penghu County is suspected of being owned by a Chinese state-run company and had docked at the ports of Kaohsiung and Keelung for three months using different names. On Tuesday last week, the Togo-flagged freighter Hong Tai 58 (宏泰58號) and its Chinese crew were detained after the Taipei-Penghu No. 3 submarine cable was severed. When the Coast Guard Administration (CGA) first attempted to detain the ship on grounds of possible sabotage, its crew said the ship’s name was Hong Tai 168, although the Automatic Identification System (AIS)
An Akizuki-class destroyer last month made the first-ever solo transit of a Japan Maritime Self-Defense Force ship through the Taiwan Strait, Japanese government officials with knowledge of the matter said yesterday. The JS Akizuki carried out a north-to-south transit through the Taiwan Strait on Feb. 5 as it sailed to the South China Sea to participate in a joint exercise with US, Australian and Philippine forces that day. The Japanese destroyer JS Sazanami in September last year made the Japan Maritime Self-Defense Force’s first-ever transit through the Taiwan Strait, but it was joined by vessels from New Zealand and Australia,
CHANGE OF MIND: The Chinese crew at first showed a willingness to cooperate, but later regretted that when the ship arrived at the port and refused to enter Togolese Republic-registered Chinese freighter Hong Tai (宏泰號) and its crew have been detained on suspicion of deliberately damaging a submarine cable connecting Taiwan proper and Penghu County, the Coast Guard Administration said in a statement yesterday. The case would be subject to a “national security-level investigation” by the Tainan District Prosecutors’ Office, it added. The administration said that it had been monitoring the ship since 7:10pm on Saturday when it appeared to be loitering in waters about 6 nautical miles (11km) northwest of Tainan’s Chiang Chun Fishing Port, adding that the ship’s location was about 0.5 nautical miles north of the No.
SECURITY: The purpose for giving Hong Kong and Macau residents more lenient paths to permanent residency no longer applies due to China’s policies, a source said The government is considering removing an optional path to citizenship for residents from Hong Kong and Macau, and lengthening the terms for permanent residence eligibility, a source said yesterday. In a bid to prevent the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) from infiltrating Taiwan through immigration from Hong Kong and Macau, the government could amend immigration laws for residents of the territories who currently receive preferential treatment, an official familiar with the matter speaking on condition of anonymity said. The move was part of “national security-related legislative reform,” they added. Under the amendments, arrivals from the Chinese territories would have to reside in Taiwan for
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