Asian currencies mostly up late on yen and central bank fears
Asian currencies mostly up late on yen and central bank fears
SINGAPORE (Dow Jones): A firmer yen and Wall Street-inspired
gains on some of the regional bourses boosted most Asian
currencies late Wednesday.
At 0840 GMT, the dollar was quoted at Y124.10, below Y124.25
late Tuesday in New York. The yen has regained some footing,
after the dollar failed to rise above key technical resistance at
Y125.50 in New York late Tuesday.
Meanwhile, the South Korean won and the New Taiwan dollar were
the main beneficiaries of the stock market rallies Wednesday that
followed Nasdaq's 6 percent surge, and the Dow Jones Industrial
Average's 2.6 percent jump to close above the psychologically
important 10,000 mark overnight.
The only currency that was left out in the cold was the
Philippine peso, which was slightly weaker on corporate dollar
demand ahead of the long Easter weekend, dealers said.
The dollar closed at 49.930 pesos on the Philippine Dealing
System, up from Tuesday's close of 49.900 pesos.
Market participants were also hesitant to add to their long-
dollar positions amid fears of further central bank intervention,
after the authorities in South Korea, Thailand, Singapore and
Indonesia came to the defense of their beleaguered currencies
over the past week, dealers said.
"The central bank interventions spooked a lot of people," said
a dealer at a European bank.
As the pressure on regional currencies eased, participants
squared their long-dollar positions ahead of the long Easter
weekend, dealers said. Financial markets in Singapore, Hong Kong,
Indonesia, Thailand and the Philippines will be closed Friday.
Easing political tensions and hopes that the International
Monetary Fund would finally release a delayed $400 million loan
disbursal to Indonesia shored up the rupiah, dealers said.
The dollar fell to Rp 10,525, from Rp 10,680 late Tuesday.
Indonesia's key leaders, including President Abdurrahman Wahid
and his deputy, Megawati Sukarnoputri, have suggested a joint
dialogue to resolve the country's problems.
The IMF's Asia Pacific Deputy Director Anoop Singh said
Wednesday he is optimistic that the fund's ongoing review of
Indonesia's economic reforms will be successful.
The Singapore dollar strengthened by about a cent as the U.S.
currency pulled back against not only the yen, but the euro as
well, ahead of the European central bank's decision on interest
rates. At 0954 GMT (5:54 a.m. EDT), the euro was at US$0.8902,
higher than $0.8880 late Tuesday in New York.
The Singapore dollar was at S$1.8044 against its U.S.
counterpart, stronger than S$1.8148 late Tuesday.
The Thai baht found reprieve from the strength of the yen and
the Singapore dollar, and fears of testing the central bank's
resolve. Bank of Thailand was rumored to have sold dollars around
45.600 baht Tuesday.
The dollar fell to 45.335 baht from 45.620 baht late Tuesday.
The yen's strength and the rally on their respective bourses
lifted the South Korean won and the New Taiwan dollar.
But the New Taiwan dollar relinquished most of its earlier
gains, to end only marginally firmer, after Taiwan's central bank
bought some US$100 million to check the local currency's
strength, in an apparent bid to preserve the price
competitiveness of the island-state's exports, dealers said.
The U.S. dollar closed at NT$32.920, down slightly from
NT$32.927 Tuesday. The U.S. dollar had touched an intraday low of
NT$32.881.
In Seoul, the dollar finished at 1,325.0 won, down from
Tuesday's close of 1,334.1 won.