US-Iran Two-Week Ceasefire, Stocks and Currency Surge, New Taiwan Dollar Sharply Rises 1.82 Cents

The United States and Iran today agreed to a two-week ceasefire, easing market concerns about escalating tensions in the Middle East. The benchmark price of US crude oil consequently fell below the US$100 per barrel mark today.

With geopolitical risks de-escalating, financial markets rejoiced. Taiwan stocks opened higher and continued to climb today, closing at a record high of 34761.38 points, a surge of 1531.56 points, marking the second-largest single-day gain in history. The three major institutional investors were all net buyers, collectively buying NT$157.9 billion, with foreign investors pouring in NT$117.7 billion, the second-largest in history.

The New Taiwan Dollar also saw a strong appreciation against the US Dollar today. It opened at NT$31.89, reaching a high of NT$31.73, a sharp rise of 2.37 cents. Foreign exchange traders directly stated that foreign investors poured in funds frantically today, and the appreciation quickly expanded to over 1.5 cents in the morning. Seeing the exchange rate soar, exporters rushed to sell US dollars, further pushing up the exchange rate. As the New Taiwan Dollar broke through NT$31.8, exporters became reluctant to sell, and importers began to buy US dollars, allowing the appreciation to slow down slightly.

Foreign exchange traders said that the Middle East conflict has been volatile. Although negative factors gradually dulled in late March, the market remained in a wait-and-see mood. Today, there was finally some progress, with the US Dollar clearly falling and Asian currencies generally rising. The central bank intervened appropriately during the trading session to smooth out the trend.

However, foreign exchange traders reminded that based on the experience of the past month, news about the Middle East conflict often changes daily. Today, driven by positive news, the stock and foreign exchange markets saw relatively significant gains, but whether this trend can continue remains uncertain.

According to central bank statistics, with the temporary ceasefire between the US and Iran, risk aversion eased. The US Dollar Index plummeted 1.21% today, the Renminbi rose 0.5%, the New Taiwan Dollar surged 0.57%, the Japanese Yen strongly rose 1.04%, and the Korean Won soared 1.66%. (Editor: Yang Kai-xiang) 1150408