After breather, rupiah resumes climb
After breather, rupiah resumes climb Dow Jones
The dollar closed at PHP53.510 on the Philippine Dealing System, up from PHP52.495 on Tuesday.
Apart from follow-through dollar buying by companies for month-end requirements, worries over the government's continuing budget deficit overshoot and the economic impact of Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS), also dominated the market.
"The peso's fall, however, was capped on speculation that the central bank stepped in to provide dollar liquidity in defense of the local unit," a trader said. Central bank officials couldn't be immediately reached.
As against the South Korean won, the dollar closed at KRW1,218.9, down from KRW1,219.4 Tuesday.
Market players took profits following the dollar's sharp gain in the previous session, while exporters sold above KRW1,220, traders said.
"There seems to be a consensus in the market that the dollar's 10-won surge yesterday (Tuesday) was overdone," said a trader at a major South Korean bank.
Trading wasn't very active as players monitored developments in Beijing where the U.S., North Korea and China are holding talks on Pyongyang's suspected nuclear arms program. The talks are scheduled to conclude on Friday.
"People aren't expecting big results from the talks and prospects for the Beijing meeting aren't at all rosy," said another trader at a foreign financial institution.
Selling by Taiwan exporters and offshore players pulled the U.S. unit down a tad to end at 34.812 versus the local dollar, from NT$34.816 at the previous close.
Bids for U.S. dollars from local insurers and importers at the NT$34.80 level capped the local unit's gains, traders said.
The Indonesian rupiah resumed its upward march after a brief breather in the previous session following six days of gains.
The dollar ended Wednesday at Rp 8,730, down from Rp 8,740 Tuesday. Analysts attribute the rupiah's upward momentum to investors' search for higher yields.
As against the Thai baht, the dollar ended the local session at THB42.755, quite steady compared with THB42.760 on Tuesday.