Taipei, April 29 (CNA) The U.S. dollar fell against the Taiwan dollar Wednesday, shedding NT$0.136 to close at NT$30.695 as foreign investors continued to move funds into regional equity markets, including into Taiwan's stock exchange, dealers said.
The greenback's losses were limited, however, as foreign exchange traders sold the local currency to lock in gains made in recent sessions, and Taiwan's central bank intervened to keep the Taiwan dollar from appreciating too much.
The greenback opened at the day's high of NT$30.830, and moved to a low of NT$30.450 before rebounding. Turnover totaled US$947 million during the trading session.
The U.S. dollar opened lower against the Taiwan dollar on follow-through selling and downward pressure escalated to push the U.S. unit to below NT$30.50 at one point, dealers said.
The weakness of the greenback reflected further inflows of foreign funds into the region, which gave a boost to other regional currencies, such as the Japanese yen and the South Korean won, they said.
The stronger yen and won gave traders here reason to increase their holdings in the Taiwan dollar throughout the session, although some of them pocketed earlier gains in the late session to hold back the local currency's rise to some extent, they added.
After witnessing the U.S. dollar fall below the NT$30.50 mark, the central bank stepped in to support the greenback, helping the U.S. unit return to nearly NT$30.70 at the close, dealers said.
Taiwan's central bank is expected to continue its efforts to keep the Taiwan dollar cheaper in a bid to protect the country's exporters.
Analysts fear that a stronger local currency could hurt export-oriented high-tech companies' bottom lines in the second quarter, they said.
Market sentiment toward the U.S. dollar movement remained cautious ahead of an expected statement by the U.S. Federal Reserve later in the day at the end of its two-day policymaking meeting, dealers said.
Many investors were also watching closely for Washington's first quarter gross domestic product (GDP) data for more clues on when the Fed will kick off an interest rate hike cycle, they said.
