Foreign exchange reserves rise to US$542.98 billion – Taipei Times

• By Crystal Hsu / Staff reporter

Taiwan’s foreign exchange reserves last month rose to US$542.98 billion, an increase of US$1.87 billion from one month earlier, as other major reserve currencies gained value against the greenback, the central bank said yesterday.

The increase also had to do with the central bank’s foreign exchange reserves management skills, Department of Foreign Exchange Director-General Eugene Tsai (蔡炯民) told an online news conference.

“The local foreign exchange market looked stable and balanced, judging by capital movements,” Tsai said, adding that there was no need for intervention.

There was a net fund inflow of US$990 million, even though foreign portfolio managers wired US$2.2 billion in capital gains, and mutual funds and domestic life insurers raised their stakes in investment tools overseas, he said.

Local shares and bonds held by foreign investors totaled US$715.4 billion, down US$11.8 billion from a month earlier and equivalent to 132 percent of overall foreign exchange reserves, Tsai said.

The US dollar last month weakened 1.59 percent, while the euro gained 1.72 percent, the yuan picked up 1.74 percent, the British pound rose 2.82 percent and the Australian dollar edged up 0.23 percent, the central bank said.

The yen is the only major reserve currency that softened, down 0.2 percent against the greenback, it said.

The latest foreign exchange reserves figures placed Taiwan behind China, Japan, Switzerland and India globally, it said.

Comments will be moderated. Keep comments relevant to the article. Remarks containing abusive and obscene language, personal attacks of any kind or promotion will be removed and the user banned. Final decision will be at the discretion of the Taipei Times.

from WordPress https://ift.tt/34Na0o8
via IFTTT