Most SE Asian currencies gain footing<\/p>\n
SINGAPORE (Dow Jones): All Southeast Asian currencies, except
\nIndonesia's flagging rupiah, managed to climb higher against the
\nU.S. dollar despite a gradually weakening yen in Asian trading on
\nWednesday.<\/p>\n
The Philippine peso pushed as high as 39.293 pesos to the
\ndollar in intraday trading before falling back late in the day.<\/p>\n
In late trading, the U.S. dollar traded at 39.390 pesos, still
\nwell down from 39.71 pesos late Tuesday.<\/p>\n
News and market sentiment has been good for the Philippines
\nthis week. The Philippine Central Bank expects to tap a US$280
\nmillion loan from the International Monetary Fund (IMF) within
\nhours.<\/p>\n
For the moment, the rupiah was trending downward as it
\ncontinues to fall from a late-October high of Rp 7,050 against
\nthe U.S. dollar. In late Asian trade, the U.S. dollar traded at
\nRp 8,575, up from Tuesday's close at Rp 8,400.<\/p>\n
The U.S. dollar was extremely quiet against the Singapore
\ndollar, traders said. \"Nothing to report; we've all moved over to
\ntrade the U.S. dollar-yen,\" said the head of trading at a
\nJapanese bank. The U.S. dollar was trading at $1.6224, almost
\nunchanged from S$1.6220 Tuesday, giving some hint of the
\ncurrency's sideways movement in intraday trading.<\/p>\n
\"The (U.S.) dollar-Sing has seen a bit of buying by the local
\nbanks, probably on behalf of the Monetary Authority of Singapore,
\nbut they've been doing that for weeks,\" said a trader at a German
\nbank, adding that the expected range for the U.S. dollar will
\ncontinue to be S$1.6180 to S$1.6250.<\/p>\n
The U.S. dollar was trading at 36.5200 baht, down from 36.66
\nbaht Tuesday. The argument for the baht's continued strength
\nrevolves around account surpluses and inflows of foreign capital
\nto buy Thai assets and invest in the local equity market.<\/p>\n
Although persistent fears have kept traders worried that the
\ncentral bank might make an appearance to prop up the U.S. dollar
\nto give exporters a helping hand, central bank officials have
\nrecently voiced their enthusiasm for a stronger baht, to help the
\ncountry to pay its hefty foreign debts, which stand at almost $60
\nbillion.<\/p>\n
\"There have been no signs of the central bank yet,\" said a
\ntrader at a French bank. \"The (U.S.) dollar-baht spot has been
\ndrifting lower. There is probably some stop-loss orders around
\n36.50 baht, but nothing substantial, nothing to take the dollar
\nlower in a big way.\"<\/p>\n
In North Asia, the U.S. dollar traded at 32.468 New Taiwan
\ndollars (NT), almost unchanged from NT$32.454 Tuesday. The U.S.
\ndollar traded at 1,311.8 won, down from 1,314.50 won.<\/p>\n
In Tokyo, the dollar rose against the yen in late trading in
\nTokyo Wednesday on short-covering and better-than-expected gains
\nby the Democrats in U.S. mid-term elections, dealers said.<\/p>\n
At 5 p.m., the dollar was trading at 116.63-66 yen, up from a
\nmid-morning level of 115.15 yen and 115.25 yen in New York late
\nTuesday.<\/p>",
"url": "https:\/\/jawawa.id\/newsitem\/most-se-asian-currencies-gain-footing-1447893297",
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