The New Taiwan dollar weakened again on Oct. 19, extending the previous week’s decline after substantial foreign capital outflows and a retreat in global technology shares.
The official interbank rate closed at NT$32.445 per U.S. dollar, compared with NT$32.338 on Oct. 16, data from the Central Bank of the Republic of China (Taiwan) show. The Oct. 19 close was also covered in an earlier EconoTimes report on Taipei trading.
From Oct. 12 to Oct. 16, foreign investors sold a net $19.402 billion in Taiwanese shares and remitted a net $17.961 billion out of Taiwan, the central bank said. Over that period, the currency depreciated 1.37%, moving from NT$31.895 to NT$32.338 per U.S. dollar. The bank also cited the repatriation of dividends alongside share sales.
The central bank linked that previous week’s depreciation to a broader decline in technology stocks and concerns about artificial intelligence valuations and financing. It said the Philadelphia Semiconductor Index fell 15.7% from Oct. 7 to Oct. 16, while Taiwanese stocks declined 5.4% over the same period.
Taiwan Stock Exchange data show the TAIEX lost 1,655.96 points on Oct. 15, closing at 46,969.87. The index closed at 46,822.08 on Oct. 19.
In an Oct. 16 note, OCBC FX strategists Sim Moh Siong and Christopher Wong said a sustained recovery in the New Taiwan dollar would likely require some improvement in underlying capital flows. The central bank said it would monitor international markets and foreign investor activity, responding to currency-market conditions as needed to maintain exchange-rate stability.
Taiwan’s Ministry of Economic Affairs is scheduled to release its September industrial production index on Oct. 23.
