Currencies

The recent rally in currencies of trade-dependent Asian economies is fuelling concerns among central bank policymakersPublished Tue, May 6, 2025 · 07:06 AM Hong Kong authorities said they continued to purchase US dollars in an attempt to defend the foreign exchange peg. The Hong Kong Monetary Authority spent a record HK$60.5b on the US currency, according to an alert sent on its Bloomberg page on Tuesday (May 6) in Asia, after the city’s currency tested the upper end of its trading band. The purchase adds to the HK$56.1 billion it...

The US dollar got a fresh jolt to start the week as speculation around potential trade deals sparked an extraordinary spike in Taiwan’s currency and reverberated across global foreign exchange markets.Already under pressure as US President Donald Trump’s economic agenda dents attitudes around American assets, the greenback weakened further on Monday (May 5) against most major currencies. A Bloomberg gauge of the US dollar wrapped up the session in New York about 0.2 per cent lower after paring earlier declines. Taiwan’s dollar led gains among the 16 major peers tracked by...

BENGALURU: The Taiwan dollar was poised for its biggest single-day gain since the 1980s on Monday, as the convergence of strong economic data and cooling global trade tensions ushered investors into the island’s currency. Taiwan’s currency appreciated as high as 29.59 per US dollar, its highest level in nearly three years. It was last trading at 30.04. Typically a quiet player in emerging Asian currency markets, the Taiwan dollar’s historic rally underscores a broader re-rating of the region’s economic prospects, with its role in the global semiconductor and AI supply...

More than a decade ago, walking along the busy main road of Goma in the Eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo, you could find a lot of things for sale: clothes, hats, groceries. And dollars. Huge stacks of dollars carried by young men, known as money changers. Some dollars were so soiled they were black and limp like cloth, they’d been in circulation for so long. Others were newer.“Everyone prefers U.S. dollars over Congolese francs,” one money changer told me. “It’s more stable. A lot of people here are import-exporters,...

The US Dollar Index edges to 99.60 as the Taiwan Dollar posts the biggest intraday jump in over 30 years.ISM Services PMI climbs to 51.6 in April, beating estimates and March’s 50.8 reading.Treasury Secretary Bessent says trade deals may be reached this week; deficit reduction targeted.Market activity remains thin with holidays in China and the United Kingdom.The US Dollar Index (DXY), which measures the value of the US Dollar against a basket of currencies, posted mild gains on Monday as the Taiwan Dollar surged over 5%. The move sparked a...

The Indian rupee strengthened on Monday, tracking a rise in the offshore Chinese yuan and comforted by falling crude oil prices, even as dollar demand from importers and a large foreign bank ate into some of the currency’s intraday gains. The Indian rupee closed at 84.25 against the U.S. dollar, up 0.4% on the day. The currency had touched a peak of 84.1275 in early trading but trimmed gains in the latter half of the session. The dollar index was down 0.2% at 99.6 while the offshore Chinese yuan touched...

This is CNBC's live blog covering Asia-Pacific markets. Asia-Pacific markets traded mixed as investors assessed trade developments between the U.S. and countries in the region, with focus also on Asian currencies that reversed course to weaken Tuesday as the dollar appreciated. India has reportedly proposed zero tariffs on steel, auto components and pharmaceuticals on a reciprocal basis and up to a certain amount of imports, while Malaysia said Monday that Washington had agreed for further talks and there could be a cut in tariffs. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent told CNBC...

NEW YORK :The U.S. dollar was mostly lower against major currencies, including the yen and the euro, on Monday as markets weighed continued uncertainty from President Donald Trump's policies and their impact on the economy.The greenback slid to a fresh record low against the Taiwan dollar to 28.8150 amid speculation that Taiwan was letting its currency appreciate as part of a trade deal with the U.S., or at least was unwilling to intervene to stop it rising alongside sharp inflows in capital.Trump doubled down on tariff-driven policies during an interview...

The U.S. dollar has been a symbol of American power for decades. Of the $7.5 trillion in global currency transactions that take place each day, some 90 percent feature the dollar. The majority of central banks see it as the core of their reserves. Consumers run to it in times of stress. Businesses prefer it for trade invoicing, whether they are based in Milwaukee or Malaysia.The dollar may not lose its globally dominant role anytime soon. After all, there isn’t an obvious alternative waiting in the wings. But it is...

SINGAPORE – Asian currencies rallied on May 5 on hopes of a thaw in the US-China trade war and regional tariff deals with the Trump administration.  Taiwan led the charge, with its currency surging as much as 5 per cent, the biggest intraday gain in over three decades, on speculation that exporters are rushing to convert their holdings of US dollars to the island’s currency. The Taiwan dollar has advanced more than 10 per cent over the past month. Malaysia’s ringgit advanced 1.3 per cent to its strongest since October 2024,...