The US dollar was slightly higher on Friday, coming off its strongest level for the day, as risk appetite returned to the market in the afternoon with US equities recovering from early losses and Treasury yields extending their rise.
Investors also consolidated gains made on other currencies at the expense of the US dollar ahead of a long weekend in the US.
Financial markets are closed tomorrow for Presidents Day.
The outlook for the US dollar remained lower, according to Marshall Gittler, head of investment research at BDSwiss Group.
The greenback is “considered the safest of safe havens and tends to fall when people are not looking for safe havens,” Gittler said. “With markets rallying and the US Fed on hold indefinitely, I expect the dollar to be widely used as a funding currency, pushing its value down.”
In afternoon trading, the dollar index rose 0.1 percent to 90.494 after subdued volumes in Asia because of the Lunar New Year.
On the week, the index fell 0.6 percent, its first losing week in three — in what ING Groep NV analysts described as a “consolidative mood” amid uncertainty about the pace of the US economic recovery. Weaker-than-expected weekly US jobless claims data on Thursday added to concerns the US dollar’s previous rally had priced in too fast an economic rebound.
The US dollar was up 0.2 percent against the yen at ￥104.97. It fell 0.4 percent on the week, its steepest fall since mid-December.
The euro slipped 0.1 percent to US$1.2116, but on the week, the single European currency rose 0.5 percent. The British pound rose 0.2 percent versus the US dollar to US$1.3848, despite data showing Britain’s economy suffered a record slump last year, although it did grow in the final quarter.
The Australian dollar, a proxy for risk appetite, rallied from lows to trade flat on the day at US$0.7753. The New Zealand dollar likewise cut its losses against the greenback.
The US dollar was trading at NT$29.7 at 10am today on the Taipei Foreign Exchange, as the New Taiwan dollar gained NT$1.364 from the previous close last week. The NT dollar continued to rise today, after surging 3.07 percent on Friday. After opening at NT$30.91, the NT dollar gained more than NT$1 in just 15 minutes, briefly passing the NT$30 mark. Before the US Department of the Treasury's semi-annual currency report came out, expectations that the NT dollar would keep rising were already building. The NT dollar on Friday closed at NT$31.064, up by NT$0.953 — a 3.07 percent single-day gain. Today,
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The New Taiwan dollar and Taiwanese stocks surged on signs that trade tensions between the world’s top two economies might start easing and as US tech earnings boosted the outlook of the nation’s semiconductor exports. The NT dollar strengthened as much as 3.8 percent versus the US dollar to 30.815, the biggest intraday gain since January 2011, closing at NT$31.064. The benchmark TAIEX jumped 2.73 percent to outperform the region’s equity gauges. Outlook for global trade improved after China said it is assessing possible trade talks with the US, providing a boost for the nation’s currency and shares. As the NT dollar
The Financial Supervisory Commission (FSC) yesterday met with some of the nation’s largest insurance companies as a skyrocketing New Taiwan dollar piles pressure on their hundreds of billions of dollars in US bond investments. The commission has asked some life insurance firms, among the biggest Asian holders of US debt, to discuss how the rapidly strengthening NT dollar has impacted their operations, people familiar with the matter said. The meeting took place as the NT dollar jumped as much as 5 percent yesterday, its biggest intraday gain in more than three decades. The local currency surged as exporters rushed to
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