News / Taiwan / cnyes
TWD Slides Near 10 Cents as Geopolitical Tensions Trigger Foreign Capital Outflow
Finance · Major Banks · cnyes · 2026-09-02
The New Taiwan Dollar fell to a one-week low against the USD as Middle East tensions fueled risk aversion, leading to significant foreign selling in the local stock market.
What Happened
Currency Volatility: Escalating military tensions in the Middle East have driven international oil prices higher, fueling a flight to safety that strengthened the US Dollar. The New Taiwan Dollar faced significant downward pressure, briefly breaching the 31.8 level before closing at 31.728, marking its lowest point in over a week.
Foreign Sell-off: The Taiwan stock market suffered a sharp decline, with the weighted index dropping 784 points or 1.67%. Foreign investors were major net sellers, pulling over 91.3 billion TWD out of the market, contributing to a total institutional sell-off exceeding 115 billion TWD.
Regional Divergence: Asian currencies showed mixed performance today, with the New Taiwan Dollar recording the sharpest decline at 0.3%. While the Singapore Dollar and Chinese Yuan also weakened, the Korean Won and Japanese Yen managed to gain ground, reflecting varying regional reactions to global macro pressures.
Inflationary Concerns: Global energy supply fears have pushed Brent crude above 95 USD per barrel, reigniting concerns over inflation. Combined with hawkish signals from the Federal Reserve and rising US Treasury yields, these factors have bolstered the US Dollar while putting pressure on global equity markets.