Taiwan Loosens Its Grip on the World’s Best-Performing Currency

(Bloomberg) -- Taiwan’s monetary authority is easing its hold over the world’s top-performing currency -- at least for now.

The Taiwan dollar closed stronger than the 30 level versus the greenback for the first time since June 2018 to start the week after President Tsai Ing-wen easily won re-election. It rose another 0.3% to 29.88 on Tuesday, taking its gain over the past six months to 4%.

Since the start of the year, the central bank seems to be stepping into the currency market less than in the past, traders who asked not to be named as they aren’t authorized to comment publicly on the market said on Tuesday. The Taiwanese central bank didn’t immediately reply to questions about intervention in the spot market.

Traders had said last month that the central bank was probably behind late-afternoon moves in the Taiwan dollar that saw the currency erase or pare back intraday gains. Taiwan central bank Governor Yang Chin-long said on Dec. 19 that the monetary authority would “smooth” market moves when large inflows caused excessive volatility. Policy makers might have wanted to curb gains to protect exporters.

The Trump administration didn’t name Taiwan on a list of currency manipulators in a report to the U.S. Congress on Monday. The Treasury Department did say, however, that Taiwan was close to breaching “key thresholds.”

The local currency is expected to rise to 29.8 a dollar in the coming weeks, Scotiabank wrote in a note dated Jan 13.

--With assistance from Argin Chang and Miaojung Lin.

To contact the reporter on this story: Cindy Wang in Taipei at hwang61@bloomberg.net

To contact the editors responsible for this story: Sofia Horta e Costa at shortaecosta@bloomberg.net, Philip Glamann, Christopher Anstey

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