The US dollar rose, poised for the biggest quarterly gain versus the euro since 2008, as European leaders’ struggle to forge a plan to bail out Greece pushed investors toward the perceived safety of the greenback.
The yen fell against all 16 of its most-traded counterparts this week as Japanese consumer prices dropped for a 12th month, increasing the chances the nation’s central bank will lag behind its peers in raising interest rates.
The US dollar appreciated 0.9 percent to US$1.3410 versus the euro, from US$1.3530 a week earlier. It was headed for a gain of 6.8 percent for the quarter, the largest since it advanced 11.8 percent in the three months ended in September 2008.
The yen dropped 2.1 percent, the most since Dec. 4, to ¥92.52 per US dollar, from ¥90.54 on March 19. The euro rose 1.3 percent to ¥124.06, from ¥122.51 last week.
The pound declined for a second week against the greenback on concern the recovery has yet to take hold and as investors bet the government isn’t acting fast enough to cut the budget deficit.
Sterling depreciated 0.9 percent in the week to US$1.4876 as of 5:38pm in London on Friday, and traded as low as US$1.4799, its weakest level since March 1. It fell against the dollar in three of the five trading days. Against the euro, the pound was little changed on the week at £0.9008.
Asian currencies declined this week, led by the Singapore dollar and South Korean won, as discord among leaders in European nations on how to solve Greece’s debt woes curbed investor appetite for emerging-market assets.
The won declined 0.5 percent for the week to 1,138.80 against the US dollar in Seoul and on Friday touched 1,148.40, the lowest level since March 3. The Singapore dollar fell 0.6 percent to S$1.4043.
Central banks in Taiwan and Thailand this week stressed they would intervene in currency markets after their respective exchange rates reached the strongest levels in at least 18 months.
The New Taiwan dollar traded unchanged on Friday at NT$31.88 against the greenback, and fell 0.3 percent during the five-day period, according to Taipei Forex Inc. It has dropped 0.7 percent from a September 2008 high of NT$31.667 on March 18.
The central bank said on Thursday it would enter the currency market when necessary to “maintain order” if “irregular factors caused large fluctuations.”
The baht traded little changed on Friday at 32.43 against the US dollar and dropped 0.4 percent from March 19, the first weekly slide in almost two months, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.
Indonesia’s rupiah fell 0.3 percent this week to 9,128 per dollar, while Malaysia’s ringgit lost 0.2 percent to 3.3070. The Philippine peso and China’s yuan were little changed at 45.507 and 6.8274 respectively.
‘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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