Rupiah stabilizes against the greenback<\/p>\n
JAKARTA (JP): The rupiah stabilized against the U.S. dollar
\nyesterday on a positive market response to talks between the IMF
\nteam and Indonesian officials on the country's worsening economy,
\ncurrency dealers said.<\/p>\n
Stock prices on the Jakarta Stock Exchange improved 2.12
\npercent on some gains of blue chip stocks, with the main price
\nindex closing up 7.26 points to 350.23.<\/p>\n
Currency dealers said the spot rupiah closed at 8,600\/8,800
\nagainst an opening of 8,700\/8,900 after falling to 8,950\/9,200 in
\nafternoon trading on increasing dollar demand by local
\ncorporations to pay their dollar obligations.<\/p>\n
The rupiah closed at 7,800\/8,300 to the dollar Friday after a
\ndrastic plunge to below 10,000 on the previous day.<\/p>\n
\"Overseas operators, including those in Singapore, were
\nunusually nonaggressive today (yesterday) because I think they
\nwere worried that the talks (between the IMF team and Indonesian
\nofficials) could drive up the rupiah,\" a dealer with a local
\nprivate bank said.<\/p>\n
Trading volume was thin.<\/p>\n
Dealers said the rupiah held on well in the morning, with more
\ndollar offers coming from some players as they expected good news
\nfrom the government's meeting with the IMF.<\/p>\n
The Jakarta currency market was symbolically marked by
\ncollective dollar selling by some ministers, businesspeople and
\njournalists to give their support for the rupiah.<\/p>\n
And Asian currencies sat relatively tight during a moribund
\nsession as the market awaited the outcome of what is being seen
\nas make or break talks between the IMF team and Indonesian
\nofficials.<\/p>\n
Towards the end of last week analysts and traders had been
\nlooking seriously at the chance of Indonesia calling a debt
\nmoratorium but most are now cautiously confident this week's
\ntalks will yield some solid action and see economic and banking
\nsector reforms finally put in place.<\/p>\n
\"Early indications are that talks are progressing well,\" Thio
\nChin Loo, strategist at Banque Paribas in Singapore, was quoted
\nby Reuters as saying.<\/p>\n
\"Although the outlook for the regional currencies would hinge
\non developments in Indonesia\/IMF\/U.S. talks, a debt moratorium in
\nIndonesia has been averted for now as well as capital controls
\nand a fixed exchange rate regime.\"<\/p>\n
While a number of Asian currencies were steady, the Thai baht
\nplumbed new depths, sinking below 55.00 per dollar with traders
\nunimpressed by the central bank's measures to curb currency
\nspeculation.<\/p>\n
The Bank of Thailand said late on Friday it would step up
\nscrutiny of foreign exchange markets and threatened to impose
\nsevere penalties for trading violations.<\/p>\n
\"There's been unwinding of long rupiah\/baht positions. And the
\nbaht has also weakened after Friday's capital controls because
\nnot much action was taken,\" the Singapore dealer said.<\/p>\n
The baht was at 56.20 to the dollar onshore against 54.00 late
\non Friday with the offshore rate at 56.00 against 53.00.<\/p>\n
The Malaysian ringgit was softer at 4.6700 per dollar from
\n4.60 late on Friday, but dealers said its decline was being
\ncapped by dollar sales from U.S. funds above 4.70.<\/p>\n
They said activity was subdued as the central bank stayed out
\nafter three straight days of intervention last week.<\/p>\n
The Singapore dollar slipped to 1.7980 to the U.S. dollar from
\n1.7700 late Friday as domestic interbank rates eased. Overnight
\nrate fell below 10 percent from highs of 36 percent last week,
\nspurring speculation the authorities had added liquidity to the
\nsystem in an effort to shore up the sagging stock market.<\/p>\n
But any extra liquidity did little for the Straits Times
\nIndustrials index which closed 8.75 percent lower after dropping
\n23 percent last week.<\/p>\n
\"The stock market's been battered for the last three sessions.
\nIf it goes on like this, there'll be a lot of defaults and bank
\nshares especially will be affected,\" a dealer said.<\/p>\n
\"I think the (Monetary Authority of Singapore) is monitoring
\nthe situation closely and will continue to put back liquidity to
\nease the crunch,\" he said.<\/p>\n
The Hong Kong dollar was steady around Friday's 7.7430 close,
\nbut local interest rates and forwards rose sharply.<\/p>\n
Dealers said the market appeared to be gearing for another
\nattack on the Hong Kong dollar peg as the territory's stock
\nmarket came under intense pressure.<\/p>\n
The Hang Seng Index lost over 11.0 percent at one stage after
\nPeregrine Investments, one of Asia's largest independent
\ninvestment banks, went into liquidation.<\/p>\n
\"If the stock market continues to plunge, the pressure will be
\nhigh to lift the peg,\" a dealer in Singapore said.<\/p>\n
\"If they're able to hold it for six months and the regional
\ncurrencies stabilize, the speculators will get badly burned
\nbecause of the carry costs,\" he said.<\/p>\n
\"But the funds are very much enriched by the Asian currencies
\nfall, so they have a lot of firepower. It will be interesting to
\nsee whether the Hong Kong dollar can hold up.\"<\/p>\n
Elsewhere, the South Korean won firmed to 1,735 per U.S.
\ndollar from Friday's 1,810 close on foreign fund inflows to the
\nstock market, and the Taiwan dollar weakened to T$34.480 per U.S.
\ndollar against a previous T$34.100 close as the yen shed some
\ngains.<\/p>\n
The Philippine peso traded sluggishly at 43.650 to the dollar
\nagainst Friday's 44.30 close.<\/p>\n
The following table shows the drop in value of Asian
\ncurrencies since the crisis began in July. Currency movements are
\nin percentage terms and reflect the local unit's fall against the
\ndollar, not the dollar's rise. (aly)<\/p>\n
Currency Current value Move since July 1.<\/p>\n
------------------------------------------------------<\/p>\n
Indonesian Rupiah 8,600.00 -71.74%<\/p>\n
Thai Baht 55.85 -56.13%<\/p>\n
Korean Won 1,735.00 -48.82%<\/p>\n
Malaysian Ringgit 4.66 -45.86%<\/p>\n
Philippine Peso 43.65 -39.29%<\/p>\n
Taiwan dollar 34.48 -19.52%<\/p>\n
Singapore dollar 1.80 -20.60%<\/p>\n
Hong Kong dollar 7.74 -0.01%<\/p>", "url": "https:\/\/jawawa.id\/newsitem\/rupiah-stabilizes-against-the-greenback-1447893297", "image": "" }, "sponsor": "Okusi Associates", "sponsor_url": "https:\/\/okusiassociates.com" }