(Bloomberg) -- Taiwan’s dollar surged as much as 5% on Monday, the biggest intraday gain in over three decades, on speculation exporters are rushing to convert their holdings of US dollars to the island’s currency.

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The local dollar extended Friday’s rally to reach the strongest level in about three years. Shares in heavyweight Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. dropped, paring last week’s 7% advance, on fears the stronger currency will dent its export earnings. Concern the deteriorating outlook for the greenback is convincing Taiwan’s giant life insurers to hedge their holdings of US dollar debt gave the local currency extra momentum.

The foreign-exchange moves had fanned market speculation that there may be a broader policy recalibration that allows for a stronger currency as part of a US-Taiwan trade deal. Trump has advocated a weaker US dollar to boost America’s competitiveness.

In an emergency press briefing late Monday, Taiwan’s central bank sought to quell speculation about the currency’s surge, saying that the wild, two-day appreciation was partially attributable to market chatter and urged against irresponsible speculation.

The recent tolerance of the central bank “for Taiwan dollar appreciation likely reflects a broader policy recalibration,” Christopher Wong, a senior foreign-exchange strategist at Oversea-Chinese Banking Corp. in Singapore, said before the central bank’s briefing. “A more market-determined TWD ahead of negotiations may also be helpful during trade talks.”

Trading was hectic.

The volume of US dollar-Taiwan dollar trades in Taipei early Monday jumped to the most since the 2008 global financial crisis. Banks have been bombarded with customer inquiries over the surge, with Cathay United Bank Co. introducing virtual queues on its online app to “maintain system stability.”

Despite the currency’s gains, Taiwan’s monetary authority hadn’t been seen actively intervening in the market Monday to limit its strength, though it typically does so to smooth out volatility.

“Local exporters are panicking, and local lifers are under-hedged, while equity-related outflows have ceased,” said Ju Wang, head of Greater China foreign-exchange and rates at BNP Paribas SA in Hong Kong. “The central bank remains the only buyer but has not been aggressively supporting the market, fueling speculation that currency valuation is part of the trade talks.”

Story Continues

One of the reasons exporters are buying Taiwan dollars is expectations the authorities will allow the currency to appreciate to help reach a trade deal with the US. Taiwan’s government said Saturday its negotiation team had conducted the first round of meetings with the US on May 1, though no details were released.

What Bloomberg Strategists Say...

“The speed of decline for USD/TWD has been so rapid it is unlikely that exporters have been quick enough to fully hedge dollar revenue. Which is material, with TSMC and United Microelectronics noting the impact from every 1% appreciation of TWD.”

Mark Cranfield, Markets Live Strategist

Currencies have also rallied across Asia in recent weeks as the US dollar has faltered on concern US President Donald Trump’s tariff war will hurt the world’s largest economy.

The Taiwan dollar appreciated to as strong as 29.59 to the US currency before trimming gains to trade about 3.7% higher on the day at 29.96. At its strongest level, the intraday gain was the biggest since 1988. The local currency has advanced more than 10% over the past month.

The currency’s advance may be being exacerbated by life insurers rushing to hedge their US debt holdings, strategists say.

A large chunk of the insurers’ stockpile of US bonds — including corporate debt and Treasuries — is partially or completely unhedged, meaning they are more vulnerable to losses should the dollar weaken. The companies own about NT$575 billion of US Treasuries, according to latest data from Taiwan’s Financial Supervisory Commission.

“The moves over the past two sessions were really unprecedented, and if you’re exposed to the dollar as a lifer with little to no hedging, it’d been a painful ride,” says Mingze Wu, currency trader at Stonex in Singapore. “Taiwan life insurers are among the biggest holders of US bonds in Asia, so it makes sense that they’d be on their toes right now.”

Taiwan is on the US Treasury’s “monitoring list” for foreign-exchange practices, and a stronger local dollar may be seen as another olive branch in negotiations.

--With assistance from Shikhar Balwani, David Finnerty, Chien-Hua Wan and Bhaskar Dutta.

(Updates with context in third paragraph)

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