By Andrea Wong -

Taiwan ’s dollar strengthened and government bonds were little changed before the week-long Chinese New Year holiday starts on Jan. 23.

Global funds bought $112 million more local shares than they sold today, the last session of stock and debt trading before the holiday, exchange data show. A government report on Jan. 20 will show export orders fell 0.5 percent in December from a year earlier, after gaining 2.5 percent the previous month, according to the median estimate of economists in a Bloomberg survey. That would be the first decline since September 2009.

“Trading volumes have significantly decreased due to the holiday,” said Henry Lin , a Taipei-based foreign-exchange trader at Taiwan Shin Kong Commercial Bank. “Some exporters sold the greenback today.”

The Taiwan dollar rose 0.1 percent to NT$29.978 against its U.S. counterpart, according to Taipei Forex Inc. The yield on the 1.25 percent notes due September 2021 was steady at 1.285 percent, prices from Gretai Securities Market show.

The overnight money-market rate , which measures interbank funding availability, was little changed at 0.40 percent, according to a weighted average compiled by the Taiwan Interbank Money Center.

To contact the reporter on this story: Andrea Wong in Taipei at awong268@bloomberg.net

To contact the editor responsible for this story: Sandy Hendry at shendry@bloomberg.net