With the U.S. Federal Reserve's interest rate decision scheduled this week, market sentiment turned cautious, leading to reduced trading volumes in both Taipei's stock and foreign exchange markets. The New Taiwan Dollar (TWD) against the U.S. dollar briefly dipped below the 32.4 level today (27th), but gradually recovered and closed at 32.305, appreciating by 5.3 cents. Total foreign exchange turnover in Taipei and Yuan Ta reached only 2.072 billion U.S. dollars.
The TWD opened at 32.37, reached a high of 32.24 and a low of 32.408, resulting in an intraday swing of 1.68 cents. It closed at 32.305, up 5.3 cents.
Following recent military exchanges between the U.S. and Iran, hostilities paused over the weekend, reigniting market hopes for renewed negotiations over the Strait of Hormuz. As a result, international oil prices declined. Asian stock markets rose broadly today. Although Taiwan's stock market一度 dropped over 680 points, financial stocks provided crucial support and TSMC's share price stabilized. The weighted index closed down 20.65 points at 43,634.19, a 0.05% decline, with trading value shrinking to 717.686 billion TWD.
Looking at major currencies' performance against the U.S. dollar today, the U.S. Dollar Index fell 0.09%. The TWD appreciated 0.16%, the Japanese yen 0.14%, the Chinese yuan 0.10%, and the Singapore dollar 0.09%. In contrast, the South Korean won was the only major Asian currency to depreciate, falling 0.34%.
With the Fed meeting approaching, escalating tensions in the Middle East had driven oil prices sharply higher, with Brent crude briefly touching $100 per barrel last week. Market concerns persist that inflation remains significantly above the Fed's 2% annual target, potentially forcing policymakers to adopt more aggressive rate hikes to control prices. However, with the U.S.-Iran conflict easing over the past two days, markets widely expect the Fed's monetary policy statement on Wednesday to keep interest rates unchanged.
FACT BOX
- Source: PR Times
- Category: News