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.