USD/TWD ends sharply down sharply at 32.820 vs 32.955 last close in moderate trade on foreign fund inflows, weak USD/KRW, gains in Taiwan shares (Taiex +0.8%), exporters’ month-end selling, says local bank trader. “There were some fund inflows as foreign investors foresee possible future gains in Taiwan shares, but the volume was not heavy as investors are still waiting for second-quarter earnings reports (to be released this week),” she says. Eyes USD/TWD in 32.700-32.850 band tomorrow.
FTSE stays positive as financials and miners extend gains. Joshua Raymond at City Index notes that since July 13, the FTSE 100 is 12% higher and rallying at an average of 1.2% each day, largely following a pleasing earnings season. Says, “the main positive it shows is [the] growing trust amongst investors that the heavyweight stocks will head in the right direction.” Warns, though, that stock prices could be artificially inflated if companies are beating expectations due to lower expectations, allied with low volumes in equity markets.
The cost of borrowing longer-term U.S. dollars in the London interbank market fell Friday as term funding pressures eased marginally.
Data from the British Bankers’ Association showed three-month dollar Libor,
seen as a key gauge of the effectiveness of the Federal Reserve’s monetary
policy, moved down to 0.50188% from Thursday’s 0.50375%, matching Wednesday’s record low.
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