Asian currencies mixed late; Narrow ranges in thin trade
Asian currencies mixed late; Narrow ranges in thin trade
Dow Jones, Singapore
Most Asian currencies were tightly range-bound in thin trading conditions through local hours Monday.
The Indonesian rupiah and Philippine peso were the exceptions, suffering from modest selling pressure as local corporations concerned about persistent weakness in the currencies stocked up on U.S. dollars for to repay foreign debts.
The rupiah weakened past 10,700 rupiah to the U.S. dollar before the U.S. unit lost steam and a round of profit-taking brought some relief to the local currency, dealers said.
The U.S. dollar hit an intraday high of 10,740 rupiah before backing off late in the Asian day to 10,685 rupiah, up from 10,400 rupiah late Friday.
Concerns over Indonesia's ability to meet conditions set by the International Monetary Fund for the next disbursement of IMF funding, and possible civil unrest arising from opposition to the U.S. bombing of Afghanistan have kept the rupiah on the defensive lately. Indonesia is the world's most populous Muslim nation.
The U.S. dollar has been above 10,000 rupiah for more than a month and could hit 11,000 rupiah by year-end if the bombing campaign continues into Ramadhan and if the Indonesian central bank fails to adequately support the currency, Bank of America said in a research note.
The rupiah could get a lift if Indonesian Finance Minister Boediono's is correct in his prediction that the IMF will disburse a new US$400 million loan to Indonesian by the year-end.
The loan is part of a $5 billion IMF program that was put on hold for eight months earlier this year due to IMF concerns over the lack of economic and financial reforms in Indonesia. The IMF agreed to restart the program in August with the election of President Megawati Sukarnoputri.
In Manila, the Philippine peso was weighed on by corporate demand for U.S. dollars and the lack of remittance inflows from overseas Filipino workers.
The U.S. dollar closed at 52.090 peso on the Philippine Dealing System, up from 51.915 peso Friday.
The Singapore dollar was slightly stronger after trading in a tight range, tracking the yen and other regional currencies, dealers said.
Late in Asia the U.S. dollar was quoted at S$1.8253, down from S$1.8270 late Friday. It traded between S$1.8235 and S$1.8266.
The Thai baht strengthened, although the dollar's weakness was constrained by concerns that the central bank might step in and buy the U.S. currency.
Toward the end of Asian trading the U.S. dollar was quoted at 44.380 baht, down from 44.495 baht late Friday.