CFDs are complex instruments and come with a high risk of losing money rapidly due to leverage. 79% of retail investor accounts lose money when trading CFDs with this provider. You should consider whether you understand how CFDs work and whether you can afford to take the high risk of losing your money.
US English

Taiwan dollar continues to rise despite cross-strait tensions

By Paul Golden

00:00, 6 December 2021

Illustration of Taiwan and China tension with flags
– Photo: Shutterstock

It has been a good year for the New Taiwan dollar. As of late November, the 1.8% appreciation in USD/TWD made the pair one of the best performing in emerging market Asia in 2021, only bettered by the Chinese yuan and Indian rupee in total returns despite a negative carry. 

The country’s sizable current account surplus has acted as a buffer for TWD against record outflows from Taiwanese equities this year.

According to the Central Bank of the Republic of China (Taiwan’s official name is the Republic of China), Taiwan’s foreign exchange reserves reached record levels in October on the back of a fall in the US Dollar Index.

“TWD is one of the best-performing Asian currencies this year,” says Ho Woei Chen, an economist at UOB. 

“The Taiwanese dollar has also performed relatively better than the currencies of the country’s trade partners, appreciating around 3.2% on a trade-weighted basis.”

Strong demand for Taiwan exports

Ho Woei Chen, an economist at UOBHo Woei Chen, an economist at UOB – Photo: UOB

Ho says this currency strength can be partly attributed to the strong demand for electronic components and ICT products and investments in machinery, as well as reshoring of manufacturing.

“Private consumption is likely to recover in the fourth quarter after Taiwan experienced an earlier downturn during the local Covid outbreak from May to June,” she adds. “The government’s consumption voucher programme is likely to contribute to this recovery.”

Such strength would normally attract Washington’s attention. Indeed, ING FX strategist Francesco Pesole said Taiwan meets all three of the US’ criteria to be designated a currency manipulator. 

However, it was spared that designation in the April 2021 report.

Geopolitical factors count

Pesole’s analysis of the factors likely to influence the US Treasury Department’s next semi-annual report to Congress on developments in exchange rate policies across the US’ major trading partners, concludes that Taiwan will continue to be ignored. 

“As a general rule, anything in the FX report should be filtered through a political/geopolitical analysis,” says Pesole. 

“When it comes to Taiwan, we doubt there is much interest in changing the approach to label it as an FX manipulator.”

Taiwan itself is not taking any chances though. In a report to Parliament in late September, Taiwan’s central bank stated that it had spent a net $8.73bn to “avoid serious disorder” in the FX market in the first six months of 2021, compared with $39.1m in 2020.

Unusual FX intervention by Taiwan 

Intervention on such a scale is unusual, says Iris Pang, ING's chief economist for Greater China.

“If all Asian currencies appreciate together, the relative exchange rates among Taiwan’s peers should be stable and not induce frequent intervention.” 

Michelle Lam, Greater China economist at Societe Generale says Taiwan’s FX market intervention is in fact falling, potentially due to seasonality, since trade surpluses tend to be bigger in the second half of the year as the shipping season usually starts in summer.

Michelle Lam, Greater China economist at Societe GeneraleMichelle Lam, Greater China economist at Societe Generale – Photo: Societe Generale

“FX intervention probably declined in Q3 2021 compared to Q3 2020 judging by the CBC's FX reserves and balance of payments data,” she says. 

Taiwan trade surplus falls

“There are two reasons for that – firstly, the trade surplus was not as large as in Q3 2020 due to higher commodity prices; and there were increased capital outflows stemming from Taiwanese residents’ investments in foreign debt securities,” Lam adds. 

One reason for the intervention could be Taiwan’s export driven economy. So with the TWD running at historically high levels and its economy experiencing a booming demand for products such as semiconductors, managing the exchange rate is a challenge. 

However, ForexLive’s chief currency analyst, Adam Button, says order books for exports globally are so strong right now that a further gain in the Taiwan dollar could be easily absorbed.

“Policymakers will have to balance that short term boost against the long term health of the economy,” he adds. 

Strong demand for semiconductors

“The export boom will eventually subside and that will be a tricky moment, but it is not likely to happen until 2023. In the meantime I would expect new highs, but in a gradual way that reflects light intervention.”

EUR/USD

1.10 Price
+0.490% 1D Chg, %
Long position overnight fee -0.0080%
Short position overnight fee -0.0002%
Overnight fee time 22:00 (UTC)
Spread 0.00006

GBP/USD

1.27 Price
+0.730% 1D Chg, %
Long position overnight fee -0.0047%
Short position overnight fee -0.0035%
Overnight fee time 22:00 (UTC)
Spread 0.00013

AUD/USD_zero

0.67 Price
+0.770% 1D Chg, %
Long position overnight fee -0.0071%
Short position overnight fee -0.0011%
Overnight fee time 22:00 (UTC)
Spread 0.00006

USD/JPY

146.90 Price
-1.240% 1D Chg, %
Long position overnight fee 0.0111%
Short position overnight fee -0.0194%
Overnight fee time 22:00 (UTC)
Spread 0.010
A container ship at busy port of Kaohsiung, TaiwanTaiwan's trade surplus is expected to fall – Photo: Shutterstock

Taiwan had a significant trade surplus with the US in 2020 and continues to run a large current account surplus. However, Lam says US authorities are cognizant of the macro trade flow reasons behind this.

“US policymakers understand that Taiwan’s strong exports and current account surplus was due to strong demand for semiconductors and that TWD appreciation (and more inflation) would be unfavourable for them,” adds Lam.

Pang says markets have not even noticed Taiwan’s presence on the US Treasury’s “monitoring list”, while Button reckons US warnings about manipulation have lost their ability to affect the market for anything more than a day or two. 

Taiwan is US military ally

“Outright manipulation has gone unpunished forever and making an example out of a strategic military ally is unthinkable,” he adds.

The central bank governor has previously downplayed the gravity of being on the US Treasury Department’s radar, stating there was no expectation that Taiwan would be subject to a Section 301 investigation by the Office of the United States Trade Representative (USTR).

The only country to be subject to such investigation recently is Vietnam, which the USTR opened a case against last October. 

However, Capital.com reported this was closed in July with the USTR determining that no action was required since Vietnam had agreed to refrain from any competitive devaluation of the Vietnamese dong and improve exchange rate flexibility.

The central bank governor’s lack of concern was summed up by comments he made to Parliament earlier this year. 

Tensions with China

The governor said that Taiwan’s trade surplus with the US could be reduced by selling fewer semiconductor chips, adding that this was unlikely to happen because of the US industry’s reliance on Taiwanese technology manufacturers.

Taiwan’s currency strength has occurred during a period of heightened tension with China. Pang says that although the risk of a military event is very small it could be a black swan.

However, Button, says events in Hong Kong last year with the introduction of the National Security Law need to be accounted for. 

He says that the threat of China attacking, blockading or interfering with Taiwan’s economy is greater than ever.

Covid risk to Taiwan economy

While describing the outlook as positive, UOB’s Ho accepts that geopolitical conflict is a risk and also warns that the threat of higher coronavirus infection rates cannot be dismissed given the country’s relatively low vaccination rate.

ING’s Pang also warns of the potential for a Covid upswing to impact Taiwan’s booming economy and says this will keep monetary policy loose. 

“Until the economy is fully recovered - and for this a full reopening of the borders is required, which is difficult given the lack of Covid vaccines - the central bank won't consider raising interest rates.”

Rising commodity prices are expected to put a significant dent in Taiwan’s current account surplus next year though, while lower investor appetite for technology stocks as a result of fears around inflation and tighter monetary policy in the US is likely to lead to further equity outflows.

More headwinds for the TWD 

According to Abbas Keshvani, FX strategist at JP Morgan Singapore, this leaves TWD more susceptible to rising global yields than the yuan.

Although USD/TWD is better placed than other high-beta Asian currencies such as the Korean won because of Taiwan’s leading position in the global tech supply chain as well as a more permissive central bank, it is unlikely to be fully insulated from a possible rise in DXY.

“The fact that the central bank also tends to view TWD as anti-inflationary points to potentially greater central bank tolerance on additional headroom in nominal effective exchange rate strength in the face of rising price pressures.”

Mayank Mishra, global FX and macro strategist at Standard Chartered Bank reckons rich valuations are likely to remain a headwind to further gains.

“TWD outperformance versus peers has pushed the nominal effective exchange rate to all-time highs, while the real effective exchange rate has risen to the highest level since 2006,” he says. “This is likely to keep policy makers concerned about excessive currency strength.”

Related topics

Rate this article

The difference between trading assets and CFDs
The main difference between CFD trading and trading assets, such as commodities and stocks, is that you don’t own the underlying asset when you trade on a CFD.
You can still benefit if the market moves in your favour, or make a loss if it moves against you. However, with traditional trading you enter a contract to exchange the legal ownership of the individual shares or the commodities for money, and you own this until you sell it again.
CFDs are leveraged products, which means that you only need to deposit a percentage of the full value of the CFD trade in order to open a position. But with traditional trading, you buy the assets for the full amount. In the UK, there is no stamp duty on CFD trading, but there is when you buy stocks, for example.
CFDs attract overnight costs to hold the trades (unless you use 1-1 leverage), which makes them more suited to short-term trading opportunities. Stocks and commodities are more normally bought and held for longer. You might also pay a broker commission or fees when buying and selling assets direct and you’d need somewhere to store them safely.
Capital Com is an execution-only service provider. The material provided on this website is for information purposes only and should not be understood as an investment advice. Any opinion that may be provided on this page does not constitute a recommendation by Capital Com or its agents. We do not make any representations or warranty on the accuracy or completeness of the information that is provided on this page. If you rely on the information on this page then you do so entirely on your own risk.

Still looking for a broker you can trust?

Join the 570.000+ traders worldwide that chose to trade with Capital.com

1. Create & verify your account 2. Make your first deposit 3. You’re all set. Start trading