Taiwan’s dollar had its biggest daily decline this year as the island’s stock index dropped the most in five months. Bonds rose, with benchmark five-year yields falling the most in a month, as investors sought the relative safety of government debt. The Taiex stock index slid 2.6 percent, the most since Aug. 25. “On the debt side, the stocks slump helped support the bond market today,” said Samson Tu, who helps manage $1.6 billion of fixed-income securities in Taipei at Uni-President Assets Management Corp. “The local dollar has been outperforming regional currencies in the past few months.” Taiwan’s dollar fell 0.4 percent to NT$29.230 against its U.S. counterpart as of the 4 p.m. local time close, according to Taipei Forex Inc. It was the biggest daily decline since Dec. 31. The currency slipped 0.1 percent for the week, the first five- day drop since November. It has strengthened 3.9 percent so far this year, the best performance among Asia’s 10 most-traded currencies. The yield on the 1 percent bond due January 2016 fell three basis points to 1.111 percent, the biggest decline since Jan. 3, according to Gretai Securities Market. The yield gained five basis points from 1.057 percent on Jan. 28. The market was closed from Jan. 31 to Feb. 7 for the Lunar New Year holiday. Exports rose 16.6 percent in January from a year earlier, after climbing 19.1 percent the previous month, the government reported today. That compared with the 15 percent median forecast of economists in a Bloomberg survey. To contact the reporter on this story: Andrea Wong in Hong Kong at awong268@bloomberg.net To contact the editor responsible for this story: Sandy Hendry at shendry@bloomberg.net.

Source