Asian currencies mostly up late, peso, rupiah down
Asian currencies mostly up late, peso, rupiah down
Nirmala Menon Dow Jones Singapore
Asian currencies mostly firmed Thursday, led by a strong showing from the Singapore dollar as U.S. investment houses sold the U.S. unit, likely due to some realigning of their global portfolios, traders said.
Market players also unwound some long dollar positions after a knee-jerk run-up earlier in the week in the wake of the deadly bombing in Bali, Indonesia, on Saturday, traders said.
"Risk aversion is taking a breather. The knee-jerk reaction to what happened in Bali is over," said Sameer Goel, Singapore-based market strategist at Bank of America.
Also, he said regional stock markets are drawing on better sentiment on Wall Street, which have had one of its best runs in recent days.
Although the Dow Jones Industrial Average snapped a four-day winning streak with a 2.7 percent fall overnight, U.S. stock futures rose Thursday, and that helped regional markets perform reasonably well, Goel noted.
Late in Asia, the U.S. currency was quoted around S$1.7819, from $1.7915 late Wednesday. This was the Singapore dollar's best showing in almost two weeks.
The dollar opened around its intraday high of S$1.7940, and then dropped below the psychological S$1.7900 level early in the session.
It firmed slightly in a knee-jerk reaction soon after the release of weaker-than-expected September non-oil domestic exports data early in the session, but fell back again.
September's non-oil domestic exports rose a nominal 16.9 percent on year, slightly below the average 18.1 percent average forecast in a Dow Jones Newswires poll.
But analysts said risk aversion remains a main theme in the region, and more especially in Southeast Asia. This, together with uncertainties about the U.S. economy and U.S-Iraq tensions, will likely weigh on Asian currencies going forward, they said.
The risk factor was highlighted in the Philippines where the peso's recovery was crimped by news of bomb blasts in downtown Zamboanga city in southern Philippines, which killed at least five people and injured more than a hundred.
Suspicion has fallen on the al-Qaida-linked Abu Sayyaf group, which was blamed for a bombing two weeks ago in Zamboanga that killed four people.
The dollar closed at 52.980 pesos on the Philippine Dealing System, slightly up from 52.960 pesos Wednesday, recovering from an early decline that took it to an intraday low of 52.740 pesos.
"The bombings stalled the peso's recovery," said a trader at a local bank, adding that the incident exacerbated the lingering security concerns in the country.
The Indonesian rupiah also fell as the Australian government urged its citizens to leave the country after the bombing in Bali.
The dollar ended at Rp 9,210, a touch higher from Rp 9,200 at Wednesday, but off an intraday high of Rp 9,240 as state banks sold dollars, possibly on behalf of the central bank, traders said.
Security concerns in Indonesia are likely to hurt earnings from tourism - which account for 5 percent of annual output - and foreign direct investment.
Finance Minister Boediono said the country would likely miss its budget deficit target of 1.3 percent of gross domestic product next year due to the shock of the Bali blast on the economy.
The Thai baht continued to rebound strongly, tracking the Singapore dollar's gains and the yen's firmer tone.
The dollar ended the Asian session at its intraday low of 43.73 baht, down from 43.89 baht Wednesday, shrugging off early gains that took it to a peak of 43.96 baht.
Elsewhere, the New Taiwan dollar ended at a three-week high Thursday as strength in regional currencies encouraged interbank traders to sell the U.S. unit.
The U.S. dollar ended at NT$34.850, its lowest closing since Sept. 24, and down from NT$34.970 Wednesday.