Asian monies soften, U.S. dollar shines<\/p>\n
SINGAPORE (Dow Jones): Southeast Asian currencies ended Asian
\ntrading hours on Wednesday a touch softer against the U.S.
\ndollar, as the market returned to bidding up the U.S. currency
\nagainst Asia as a whole.<\/p>\n
With the U.S. dollar's luster burnished by Alan Greenspan's
\ntestimony before Congress on Tuesday, in which the Federal
\nReserve chairman hinted at a more hawkish stance towards U.S.
\nmonetary policy, traders said that the U.S. currency was once
\nagain appearing attractive relative to Asia's regional
\ncurrencies.<\/p>\n
In Southeast Asia, renewed U.S. dollar bids pushed the
\nSingapore dollar to a fresh five-month low, while in North Asia
\nboth the South Korean won and the new Taiwan dollar declined.<\/p>\n
The Indonesian rupiah closed slightly higher against the
\ndollar in quiet dealings Wednesday as state banks and some
\noffshore participants sold the U.S. currency.<\/p>\n
The dollar closed at Rp 8,820 in the spot market for the Asian
\nsession, down a bit from Rp 8,850 Tuesday.<\/p>\n
\"Although earlier this week the dollar broke Rp 9,000, the
\nmarket still perceives the level is a resilient resistance,\" said
\na dealer with a foreign bank. \"The central bank faithfully guards
\nthe rupiah at Rp 9,000,\" the dealer said.<\/p>\n
Dealers said that as the dollar loses steam against the rupiah
\nat Rp 9,000, the rupiah's high yield will become a good reason
\nfor investors to buy the currency.<\/p>\n
Although a liquidity squeeze helped the Thai baht claw back
\nsome of its recent losses at the open, not even short-term
\nfunding costs as high as 30 percent proved sufficient to deter
\nthe dollar bulls, and the baht surrendered its early gains later
\nin the day.<\/p>\n
Despite the market's enthusiasm for the U.S. dollar, trading
\nactivity was generally subdued. Of the Asian regional currencies,
\nonly the baht and Singapore dollar attracted appreciable levels
\nof interest.<\/p>\n
At the start of Asian trading a flurry of U.S. dollar sales
\npushed the U.S. currency sharply lower against the baht.<\/p>\n
Traders attributed the U.S. dollar selling to offshore players
\nforced to exit their short positions in the Thai currency after
\nthe baht interest rates implied by tomorrow\/next day baht swap
\nrates rose to levels as high as 30 percent late Tuesday.<\/p>\n
Despite the high costs of funding short baht positions, the
\nU.S. dollar found support at its early intraday low of 37.31
\nbaht, and recovered during the session to end Asian hours at
\n37.5650 baht, up a touch from 37.5150 baht late the previous day.<\/p>\n
With short-term Singapore dollar interest rates hovering
\naround 1 percent, funding costs were no deterrent to market
\nplayers seeking to sell the Singapore short.<\/p>\n
Heavy U.S. dollar purchases, executed, according to traders,
\nby U.S. investment houses in Hong Kong, propelled the Singapore
\ncurrency to a fresh five-month low in afternoon trading.<\/p>\n
Late in Asian trading the U.S. dollar had eased slightly to
\ntrade at S$1.7255, up from S$1.7192 late Tuesday.<\/p>\n
Most traders remain bullish on the U.S. currency's short-term
\nprospects, with a trader at a Singapore bank saying: \"The market
\nmay test S$1.7280, but at S$1.7300 there is major resistance.\"<\/p>\n
The U.S. dollar also made gains elsewhere in the region.<\/p>\n
Against the Philippine peso, the U.S. currency ended the
\ntrading day at 39.09 pesos, up from 38.99 pesos at Tuesday's
\nclose.<\/p>\n
In North Asia, both the new Taiwan dollar and the South Korean
\nwon slipped. In Taipei the U.S. currency ended at NT$33.083, up
\nfrom NT$33.028 the day before. In Seoul the U.S. dollar closed at
\n1,217.50 won, compared with 1,212.50 won on Tuesday.<\/p>",
"url": "https:\/\/jawawa.id\/newsitem\/asian-monies-soften-us-dollar-shines-1447893297",
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"sponsor": "Okusi Associates",
"sponsor_url": "https:\/\/okusiassociates.com"
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