Asian currencies mostly down; central bank fears ease pain
Asian currencies mostly down; central bank fears ease pain
SINGAPORE (Dow Jones): Most Asian currencies suffered a
relapse late Thursday as the Japanese yen's recent reprieve
proved to be short-lived, dealers said.
But talk of central bank intervention kept a rein on some of
the currencies' losses, in particular the Singapore dollar and
the New Taiwan dollar, dealers said.
The Indonesian rupiah ended a touch lower in thin volume
trading as players wait to see whether President Abdurrahman
Wahid will resign in the coming months.
Players are unwilling to take large positions given the
political uncertainty, which is keeping the dollar in a very
narrow range against the rupiah.
The dollar closed at Rp 11,345, higher than its close of Rp
11,325 Wednesday.
The Thai baht remained detached from the region's
developments, as market participants continued to bail out of
their long dollar positions, dealers said.
"No matter what's happening in the world, the baht is
strengthening," said Mansoor Mohi-uddin, a foreign exchange
strategist at UBS Warburg. However, he added that the currency
will likely resume its recent downtrend in the medium term on
"sustained capital outflows."
Concerns over the Thai central bank's plan to introduce
stricter foreign exchange disclosure requirements for nonresident
baht accounts kept offshore participants circumspect about
trading the currency.
The dollar was quoted at 45.185 baht, lower than 45.215 baht
late Wednesday.
The Singapore dollar slumped to its lowest level since May 10,
before U.S. dollar sales by a local bank fueled talk that the
monetary authority may have intervened in early trade, dealers
said.
The Singapore dollar had skidded to as low as S$1.8238 against
its U.S. counterpart at the open, as the yen floundered toward
Y124 to the U.S. currency, dealers said. Late Wednesday, the U.S.
dollar was quoted at S$1.8177.
Though some dealers doubted that the Monetary Authority of
Singapore had intervened through its agent bank, fears of testing
the central bank's resolve kept the local dollar off its low for
the rest of the day.
At 0830 GMT (3:30 p.m Jakarta time), the U.S. dollar was
quoted at S$1.8209, higher than S$1.8177 late Wednesday.
The double whammy of a weaker yen and a decline on the Taipei
bourse sent the New Taiwan dollar reeling toward the critical
NT$34.500 mark against the U.S. currency, dealers said.
The U.S. dollar closed at NT$34.456, up from NT$34.400
Wednesday. Dealings were valued at US$817.5 million, up from
US$313 million Wednesday.
Taiwan's benchmark stock index slipped 0.9 percent to close
below the 5000-point psychological support level at 4984.88 on
nagging worries over the technology sector.
The yen's pullback also dealt a blow to the South Korean
currency, which ended at 1,302.9 won against the dollar, compared
with 1,294.9 won Wednesday.
The slump in regional foreign exchange markets and corporate
dollar demand dented the Philippine peso, dealers said.
The peso shrugged off the central bank's decision to leave its
overnight interest rates unchanged at Thursday's weekly meeting
of its policy-making board. The central bank cited concerns over
the weak peso for keeping policy on a neutral bias. The headline
overnight borrowing rate is 9 percent
The dollar closed at 52.200 pesos, up from 52.010 pesos
Wednesday.