Asian currencies soften over Indonesian uncertainty

Asian currencies soften over Indonesian uncertainty

SINGAPORE (Reuters): Asian currencies drifted lower in slow
trade late yesterday as uncertainty over Indonesia and a lack of
fresh impetus elsewhere dampened interest.

Indonesia remained in the spotlight as visiting U.S. envoy
Walter Mondale met President Soeharto ahead of next week's
elections.

Mondale told a news conference he had stressed the need for
"full, demonstrable and vigorous" implementation of IMF reforms
to Soeharto.

He also said there were no quick fixes for Indonesia's
economic crisis, but added that Clinton understood the hardships
the country was facing.

The Indonesian rupiah barely twitched as traders retreated
further into the wings due to continued uncertainty over a
proposed currency board to strengthen and stabilize the rupiah.

U.S. Treasury Secretary Robert Rubin on Monday urged Indonesia
to stick to the IMF program and reiterated that other issues had
to be addressed before a currency board could be considered.

Elsewhere, the Malaysian ringgit and Singapore dollar shed
early gains as players covered their short dollar positions in
the wake of the dollar's rebound above 126 yen.

The ringgit slipped back through the 3.60 per dollar level
after failing to breach dollar demand near 3.55/57.

Japanese Finance Ministry official Eisuke Sakakibara, on a
visit to Kuala Lumpur, said Malaysia's fundamentals were very
strong and the ringgit was still somewhat undervalued.

Sakakibara also said Asia depended too widely on the dollar
and should use the yen more widely in regional trade.

It also came off against the Singapore dollar as the 0.4500
level remained a stubborn barrier.

But Thio Chin Loo, strategist at Banque Paribas in Singapore,
said the cross was likely to head back towards 0.4800/0.5000 over
the next three months as Singapore authorities were believed to
be against an excessive strengthening of the domestic dollar.

The Singapore dollar slithered through the 1.62 level to the
U.S. dollar as the psychological 1.60 base held.

"The 1.60 level is still quite important so people don't want
to sell the (U.S.) dollar there," a U.S. bank dealer said.

The Thai baht was sandwiched between corporate dollar demand
and exporter sales, keeping it in a narrow range around the 43.00
per dollar level.

Traders said the opposition's censure motion against Prime
Minister Chuan Leekpai's government was unlikely to create too
many ripples.

The president of parliament has hinted that the motion
accusing the government of condoning corruption and of
incompetence could be debated on March 18-19.

"Actually, I'm expecting a good laugh from the debate. What
can the opposition attack this government about without raising
questions at the same time about their own past handling of the
problems," said a dealer at a Thai bank.

"But again, you cannot ignore it completely as anything can
happen in Thai politics," he said.

The Philippine peso perked up a bit amid stability in regional
markets and a lack of corporate dollar demand.

The central bank cut its one-month lending rate to 17.93
percent from 18.57 percent. Central bank governor Gabriel Singson
said banks' prime lending rates had gone down to 21 percent this
week.

Local businessmen in the southern Philippines closed their
shops on Monday in protest over high lending rates, which they
said were strangling business activities.

But Singson said the central bank had no sanctions against
commercial banks and businessmen should be patient in coping with
the crisis.

The South Korean won erased early gains in the face of
importer dollar demand and short-covering, but dealers said its
decline would be cushioned by foreign fund flows to the stock
market.

Foreign buying in local shares was estimated by stock brokers
at a net 133 billion won on Tuesday.

The Hong Kong dollar was steady and forwards firmed slightly
on position covering after recent falls, but dealers said the
money market was likely to be in limbo ahead of the Indonesian
elections and China's National People's Congress on Thursday.

Hong Kong Monetary Authority chief Joseph Yam, on a visit to
Tokyo, told the Bank of Japan governor Yasuo Matsushita that a
stable yen and Hong Kong dollar were important for Asia.

The Taiwan dollar finished just below the T$32.00 level as
short-covering of the U.S. dollar was countered by inflows to the
stock market.