Indonesia’s rupiah completed its biggest weekly drop in seven months and led losses in Asian currencies as overseas investors dumped emerging-market assets on concern a global recovery is stalling.
The Bloomberg-JPMorgan Asia Dollar Index, which gauges the strength of the 10 most active regional currencies excluding the yen, slumped 0.5 percent this week and Asian stocks slid.
The Philippine peso was near a seven-week low on concern a widening budget deficit will erode investor confidence.
The rupiah declined 2.9 percent this week to 10,400 per dollar in Jakarta, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. South Korea’s won fell 1.1 percent to 1,268.40, while Malaysia’s ringgit slid 0.9 percent to 3.5360.
The MSCI Asia-Pacific Index of stocks dropped 3.8 percent this week, the most since March 6, as investors favored safer bets than emerging-market assets. The ICE’s Dollar Index, which tracks the greenback against the currencies of six major trading partners, has jumped 1.5 percent in the past three weeks.
The won fell as higher crude oil prices boosted the nation’s fuel bill. The currency traded near a three-week low after US Secretary of Defense Robert Gates ordered defensive measures be taken should North Korea attempt to fire a missile toward Hawaii. The communist state last month tested a nuclear weapon and threatened to attack South Korea.
The New Taiwan dollar declined 0.2 percent this week to NT$32.872 against the US currency and India’s rupee dropped 1.3 percent to 48.255. Thailand’s baht slipped 0.1 percent to 34.15, while Singapore’s dollar weakened 0.3 percent S$1.4563. China’s yuan traded at 6.8362 versus 6.8338 last Friday.
The US dollar declined against most of its major counterparts as speculation the global recession is easing prompted investors to buy higher-yielding assets.
Sterling rose for the first time in three days versus the dollar after Bank of England Governor Mervyn King said policy makers are seeing evidence that the UK’s economic contraction is beginning “to flatten off.”
Sterling gained 1.1 percent to US$1.6507 after trading on Thursday as low as US$1.6189, the weakest level since June 9. The pound advanced 0.7 percent to £0.8452 per euro on Friday.
The US currency declined 0.4 percent to US$1.3952 versus the euro at 4:21pm in New York, from US$1.39 on Thursday. It touched US$1.4012, the weakest level since Monday. The yen traded at ¥134.27 against the euro, compared with ¥134.17, and advanced 0.3 percent to ¥96.23 versus the US dollar, from ¥96.47.
For the week, the US dollar appreciated 0.4 percent against the euro, trading in a range of US$1.3750 and US$1.40 after declining to US$1.4338 on June 3, the weakest level this year. The yen appreciated 2.8 percent versus the euro, the first weekly increase since the five days ended May 15, and gained 2.4 percent versus the dollar.
‘DANGEROUS GAME’: Legislative Yuan budget cuts have already become a point of discussion for Democrats and Republicans in Washington, Elbridge Colby said Taiwan’s fall to China “would be a disaster for American interests” and Taipei must raise defense spending to deter Beijing, US President Donald Trump’s pick to lead Pentagon policy, Elbridge Colby, said on Tuesday during his US Senate confirmation hearing. The nominee for US undersecretary of defense for policy told the Armed Services Committee that Washington needs to motivate Taiwan to avoid a conflict with China and that he is “profoundly disturbed” about its perceived reluctance to raise defense spending closer to 10 percent of GDP. Colby, a China hawk who also served in the Pentagon in Trump’s first team,
SEPARATE: The MAC rebutted Beijing’s claim that Taiwan is China’s province, asserting that UN Resolution 2758 neither mentions Taiwan nor grants the PRC authority over it The “status quo” of democratic Taiwan and autocratic China not belonging to each other has long been recognized by the international community, the Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) said yesterday in its rebuttal of Beijing’s claim that Taiwan can only be represented in the UN as “Taiwan, Province of China.” Chinese Minister of Foreign Affairs Wang Yi (王毅) yesterday at a news conference of the third session at the 14th National People’s Congress said that Taiwan can only be referred to as “Taiwan, Province of China” at the UN. Taiwan is an inseparable part of Chinese territory, which is not only history but
CROSSED A LINE: While entertainers working in China have made pro-China statements before, this time it seriously affected the nation’s security and interests, a source said The Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) late on Saturday night condemned the comments of Taiwanese entertainers who reposted Chinese statements denigrating Taiwan’s sovereignty. The nation’s cross-strait affairs authority issued the statement after several Taiwanese entertainers, including Patty Hou (侯佩岑), Ouyang Nana (歐陽娜娜) and Michelle Chen (陳妍希), on Friday and Saturday shared on their respective Sina Weibo (微博) accounts a post by state broadcaster China Central Television. The post showed an image of a map of Taiwan along with the five stars of the Chinese flag, and the message: “Taiwan is never a country. It never was and never will be.” The post followed remarks
INVESTMENT WATCH: The US activity would not affect the firm’s investment in Taiwan, where 11 production lines would likely be completed this year, C.C. Wei said Investments by Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) in the US should not be a cause for concern, but rather seen as the moment that the company and Taiwan stepped into the global spotlight, President William Lai (賴清德) told a news conference at the Presidential Office in Taipei yesterday alongside TSMC chairman and chief executive officer C.C. Wei (魏哲家). Wei and US President Donald Trump in Washington on Monday announced plans to invest US$100 billion in the US to build three advanced foundries, two packaging plants, and a research and development center, after Trump threatened to slap tariffs on chips made
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