Japan likely spent around $34.5 billion Thursday in its first currency intervention to prop up the yen since July 2024, according to a Bloomberg analysis of central bank accounts. The scale of intervention was probably around ¥5.4 trillion, based on a comparison of Bank of Japan accounts released Friday and money broker forecasts. In 2024, authorities spent an average of ¥3.8 trillion on four occasions to support the yen. This was the first intervention under the direction of Finance Minister Satsuki Katayama and the first since Sanae Takaichi became prime minister.
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South Korea’s exports surged again in April, driven by semiconductor shipments, signaling resilience in the trade-dependent economy despite geopolitical risks stemming from the Middle East conflict, the Wall Street Journal reported. Semiconductor shipments, which account for about a quarter of the country’s total exports, nearly tripled from a year earlier on strong demand from global technology companies building artificial-intelligence infrastructure.
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Japan has signed a $2.2 billion loan agreement for the first batch of ​projects under its $550 billion U.S. investment ‌pledge, kicking off financing tied to a trade deal that cut U.S. tariffs on Japanese ​imports to 15%, Reuters reported. State-owned Japan Bank for ​International Cooperation said on Friday it would ⁠provide about a third of the $2.2 ​billion financing, with the rest provided by ​commercial banks.
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Taiwan’s economy expanded at its fastest pace in 39 years, supercharged by demand tied to artificial intelligence, despite lingering risks from the Middle East conflict threatening to halt that momentum, the Wall Street Journal reported. Gross domestic product expanded 13.69% in the January-March quarter from a year earlier, advance estimates showed on Thursday. Exports of goods and services rose 35.25% in the first quarter, supported by AI demand.
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