Taiwan dollar, bonds steady as export orders forecast to decline
Taiwan’s dollar was steady before government data this week that may show the island’s export orders shrank for a fifth straight month in July as demand from China and Europe waned.
The currency has declined 0.2 percent versus the greenback since June after Taiwan’s gross domestic product fell in the second quarter for the first time since 2009. A government report on August 20 may show export orders dropped 2.9 percent in July from a year earlier, following a 2.6 percent decline in June, according to the median forecast in a Bloomberg survey. South Korea, India and Indonesia all reported slides in overseas sales this month.
“The export slowdown is becoming a bit synchronised now across Asia,” said Jackit Wong, an economist in Hong Kong at Natixis Asia Ltd “There is no sign of a recovery yet in overseas demand so there isn’t much room for currencies to appreciate.”
Taiwan’s dollar traded at NT$29.958 against its US counterpart as of 10:19 a.m. local time, after closing yesterday at NT$29.965, according to Taipei Forex Inc. One-month implied volatility, a measure of exchange-rate swings used to price options, was little changed at 3.40 percent.
The yield on Taiwan’s 1.25 percent bonds due March 2022 was steady at 1.18 percent, according to Gretai Securities Market. The overnight money-market rate was little changed at 0.388 percent, according to a weighted average compiled by the Taiwan Interbank Money Centre. -By David Yong
Category: Taiwan
