BLBG:Taiwan Dollar Snaps Two-Day Decline, Bonds Drop on Euro Optimism
Taiwan’s dollar snapped a two-day drop after European leaders took steps to contain their debt crisis, easing concern global growth will slow and bolstering demand for emerging-market assets. Bonds fell.
Taiwan’s benchmark stock index rose 0.8 percent after euro- area leaders outlined a “fiscal compact” to prevent future debt run-ups and accelerated the start of a planned 500 billion euro ($666 billion) bailout fund. The island’s exports increased by the least in more than two years in November as shipments to Europe slumped and faltering growth in China and the U.S. curbed demand.
“The market is digesting what happened in Europe,” said Raymond Yeung, an economist at Australia & New Zealand Banking Group Ltd. in Hong Kong. “Developments over the next few days will still be highly vulnerable to external events. The deteriorating trade outlook points to a softening” of the island’s currency, he said.
The Taiwan dollar closed at NT$30.230 against its U.S. counterpart in Taipei, compared with NT$30.239 on Dec. 9, according to Taipei Forex Inc. The currency declined 0.3 percent last week.
Overseas shipments climbed 1.3 percent from a year earlier, compared with an 11.7 percent pace in October, the Ministry of Finance said on Dec. 8. That was less than the median 8.6 percent estimate of 14 economists surveyed by Bloomberg.
Government bonds fell. The yield on the 1.25 percent bonds due September 2021 rose one basis point, or 0.01 percentage point, to 1.265 percent, prices from Gretai Securities Market show.
To contact the reporter on this story: Kyoungwha Kim in Singapore at kkim19@bloomberg.net
To contact the editor responsible for this story: Sandy Hendry at shendry@bloomberg.net
