Asian currencies mostly lower in late trade

Asian currencies mostly lower in late trade

SINGAPORE (Agencies): Asian currencies are mostly lower late
Thursday, dragged down by weakness in the Indonesian rupiah on
concerns of further separatist violence in the country's strife-
torn province of Aceh.

The South Korean won, however, ignored the downward bias to
trade stronger for the fourth consecutive session, marking a new
five-month closing high of 1,158.2 won against the dollar.

But it was developments involving Aceh that swayed most
regional currency markets.

President Abdurrahman Wahid's decision to rebuff demands by
military and police commanders to declare martial law in Aceh,
and the killing of six civilians in the restive province has
generated bearish sentiment toward Indonesia.

Hundreds of Indonesian troops and police are on their way to
Aceh to deal with any escalation of violence.

"The apparent split between the government and the army over
whether martial law should be imposed in Aceh probably means the
rupiah is still tending toward 7,200," said Bank of America in
its daily research note.

A rally of around 1,000 Acehnese in Jakarta to press demands
for a plebiscite also weighed on the rupiah, and Jakarta stocks,
which fell for the seventh consecutive session.

On Wednesday, Wahid, who is on a four-day tour of the Middle
East, rejected calls for an East Timor-style vote for
independence, saying he would only allow the Acehnese to choose
whether or not to live under Islamic law.

Late in Asian dealings, the dollar was quoted up at Rp 7,185
from Rp 7,100 the previous day.

The U.S. dollar was lower to the euro and higher against the
yen Thursday in quiet trade in Singapore, dealers said.

The euro closed at 1.0187 dollars, slightly higher from four-
month lows of 1.0185 dollars on opening, while the dollar rose to
104.52 yen from 104.40, according to rates provided by Banque
Nationale de Paris.

A dealer with the French bank said trading was very quiet with
markets in the United States closed for the Thanksgiving holiday,
and an absence of market-moving news.
T he British pound closed lower at 1.6087 dollars after opening
at 1.6107.

Against Asian currencies, the greenback was mixed.

The dollar closed higher at 1.6704 Singapore dollars from
1.6688 the day before and 38.71 Thai baht from 38.67 baht. It
inched down slightly to 31.724 Taiwan dollars from 31.728.