Troubled SE Asian currencies under attack again<\/p>\n
SINGAPORE (Reuter): Beleaguered Southeast Asian currencies
\nwere sold heavily once again yesterday in another dramatic day of
\nforeign exchange trading, traders said.<\/p>\n
\"I'm tied up at the moment, I'm tired at the moment and I
\ndon't really know what to do at the moment. Otherwise, I'm fine,\"
\nan exotic currencies trader at a European bank in Singapore said
\non Monday.<\/p>\n
After Southeast Asia had seen two de facto devaluations -- of
\nthe Thai baht and the Philippine peso -- within a couple of
\nweeks, currency speculators turned their attention to the
\nMalaysian ringgit and were rewarded immediately.<\/p>\n
The ringgit closed in Kuala Lumpur on Friday at 2.5042\/5052 to
\nthe dollar. But after the effective devaluations elsewhere in the
\nregion, traders decided to test the resolve of Bank Negara,
\nMalaysia's central bank.<\/p>\n
The ringgit swiftly collapsed to a 16-month low of 2.5500\/10.
\nDealers said Bank Negara was believed to have put up token
\nresistance to the selling by intervening. Central bank officials
\nwere unavailable for comment.<\/p>\n
The ringgit recovered a little and at 0900 GMT was quoted at
\n2.5400\/5410 to the dollar. \"With Malaysia's good fundamentals,
\nthe ringgit will in time be fairly valued,\" said Sani Hamid,
\nmarket analyst at research house MMS International.<\/p>\n
As the ringgit became the latest currency to head lower, the
\nPhilippine peso started its first day of trading after the de
\nfacto devaluation on Friday when the central bank -- Banko
\nSentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) -- allowed it to trade at a wider
\nrange against the U.S. dollar.<\/p>\n
During the afternoon, BSP was buying pesos at 29 to the U.S.
\ndollar, an indication that this was a level it wanted to see. The
\npeso had earlier dropped to a new low of 29.75 to the dollar.<\/p>\n
Before the BSP action, the peso was trading at around 26.40
\npesos -- effectively making the new level a decline of some 10
\npercent.<\/p>\n
BSP Governor Gabriel Singson also disclosed that the
\nPhilippines' gross international reserves had dropped to some
\nUS$9.7 billion as of Monday. This compares with a level of around
\nUS$12 billion in March.<\/p>\n
Thailand's baht also suffered. The baht was the first of the
\nSoutheast Asian currencies to slide and effective devalue, thus
\nprompting the domino effect still working its way through the
\nregion.<\/p>\n
At one stage the baht was traded at 30.60 to the dollar but at
\n0900 GMT was quoted at just below 30 baht compared with Friday
\nquotes of around 29.00. The Thai central bank said it regarded a
\nlevel of around 30 to the dollar as appropriate.<\/p>\n
The Indonesian rupiah had a roller coaster day falling to a
\nlow of 2469.0 to the dollar compared with Friday's finish of
\naround 2439.0 before recovering to be quoted at 0915 GMT at
\n2450.0.<\/p>\n
On Friday, the central bank, Bank Indonesia, announced a
\nwidening of the dollar-rupiah's trading band to 12 percent from
\neight percent.<\/p>\n
Kobus van der Waht, regional treasury economist at Standard
\nChartered Bank in Singapore told Reuters Financial Television
\nthat Friday's surprise move had given a signal.<\/p>\n
\"Bank Indonesia doesn't want to be part, or doesn't want to be
\nin the same trap as happened in Thailand and to an extent in the
\nPhilippines,\" he said.<\/p>",
"url": "https:\/\/jawawa.id\/newsitem\/troubled-se-asian-currencies-under-attack-again-1447893297",
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