Southeast Asian currencies slide<\/p>\n
SINGAPORE (Reuter): Southeast Asian currencies slipped again
\nyesterday and dealers said they could be ready for a new round of
\nfalls with the market still worried and regional bourses dropping
\nsharply.<\/p>\n
In Indonesia, improving liquidity depressed the rupiah,
\npropped up in recent sessions by the central bank's sharp rates
\nrise last week.<\/p>\n
Dealers said swap rates fell across the board as interest
\nrates dropped, with overnight rupiah falling to 20 percent from
\n100 percent in the morning.<\/p>\n
\"There are rumors ranging from interest rate cuts to central
\nbank offerings of short-term securities (SBPUs). But none of them
\nare true,\" a European bank dealer said.<\/p>\n
\"What we have today is sufficient liquidity supply. I think
\nit's resulting from maturing central bank papers which are not
\nrolled over,\" the dealer said.<\/p>\n
Spot rupiah was at 2,770\/75 at 0945 GMT against an opening of
\n2,690\/2,710.<\/p>\n
A Japanese bank dealer in Jakarta said offshore players
\nstarted the round of swap selling, probably in anticipation of
\ninterest rates easing.<\/p>\n
The South Korean won made an about-turn and ended firmer on
\nstop-loss dollar sales sparked by the central bank's repeated
\nintervention.<\/p>\n
The won ended at 900.50 to the dollar, up both from Monday's
\n904.60 and from a historic low of 909.50 on Tuesday morning.<\/p>\n
The Bank of Korea's dollar sales, estimated by dealers at
\nabout $500 million, initially pushed the won up to an intraday
\nhigh of 899.80.<\/p>\n
Dealers attributed the won's morning fall to talk that this
\nmonth's trade deficit would be bigger than expected. They said
\nthe won was likely to remain firmer for the time being due to
\nfears of more central bank intervention.<\/p>\n
In Malaysia, the ringgit fell against the U.S. dollar on talk
\nthat U.S. funds were accumulating long dollar\/ringgit positions
\nin the forward market.<\/p>\n
\"We've been hearing that U.S. funds have been buying
\ndollar\/ringgit heavily in the forward market, especially in the
\nsix-months and one-year,\" the U.S. bank dealer said.<\/p>\n
The ringgit was quoted at 2.7820\/70 to the dollar after
\nbriefly falling through 2.79 against 2.7700\/50 late on Monday.<\/p>\n
The ringgit fell to new lows against the Singapore dollar on
\nfollow-through sales after the cross breached stop-loss limits
\novernight. Ringgit\/Sing was at 0.5359\/76 at 0945 GMT.<\/p>\n
\"There were still some long positions on the cross so once we
\nbroke 0.5450 and 0.5400, there was more selling. But
\nfundamentally, I don't see any reasons why we should be selling
\nit,\" the U.S. bank dealer said.<\/p>\n
The Singapore dollar briefly fell through 1.5000 to the U.S.
\ndollar in line with the ringgit's drop.<\/p>\n
It was quoted at 1.4935\/55, little changed from its noon
\nlevels, after firming to 1.4895 earlier on sales of an estimated
\n$50 million by a Tokyo party, dealers said.<\/p>\n
The Thai baht was subdued as domestic demand for the dollar
\nsubsided, but dealers said sentiment remained weak on lingering
\nconcerns about Thailand's economic and political outlook.<\/p>\n
The Philippine peso weakened as foreign funds pulled out of
\nthe badly bruised stock market. The peso ended at 30.02 to the
\ndollar against Monday's 29.895 close while the key stock market
\nindex finished at a new 21-month low of 2,300.82.<\/p>\n
The Philippine central bank raised its rediscount rate for
\nSeptember to 13.188 percent from 12.572 last month.<\/p>\n
The Taiwan dollar ended unchanged as the central bank
\nmaintained its defense of the T$28.727 level in the face of heavy
\ndemand for the U.S. dollar.<\/p>",
"url": "https:\/\/jawawa.id\/newsitem\/southeast-asian-currencies-slide-1447893297",
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"sponsor": "Okusi Associates",
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