Asian currencies up and down on dollar
Asian currencies up and down on dollar
SINGAPORE (AFP): Asian currencies ended mixed on Wednesday against the U.S. dollar despite a rise in the Japanese yen, dealers said.
The Thai baht closed Asian trading at 36.22 to the U.S. dollar, down from 36.15 on Tuesday, as players reacted to a comment by an official that its levels over the past few days -- around 35 to 36 to the dollar -- were hurting exports, a dealer with a foreign bank here said.
"This triggered some buying of dollar-baht and dollar-rupiah as well," he said.
Sustaining the baht's present levels would depend on the success of the Thai Financial Sector Restructuring Agency's auction of closed finance firms' assets held Tuesday, Nomura Fixed Income Research said in a daily report.
There was skepticism that much foreign capital inflow could be expected following what Bangkok touted as the "world's biggest one-day asset sale," some analysts said.
A total of 12 bids were lodged in the 10-billion-dollar auction of loans taken from 56 finance companies closed in the darkest hours of Thailand's economic crisis last year.
The Indonesian rupiah briefly hit 8,000 to the dollar mid- morning before pulling back to end at 7,625, down from 7,550 the day before, while the Philippine peso closed lower at 39.30 from 39.01.
The Singapore dollar closed higher at 1.6485 against the greenback from 1.6523, while the Taiwan dollar rose slightly to 32.248 from 32.251 and the South Korean won to 1,208.5 from 1,211.50.
The Japanese yen ended Asian trading higher at 115.90 to the greenback, up from its close here on Tuesday of 117.10 and 116.73 in New York overnight.
The dealer said trade in the yen was sluggish as players remained sidelined ahead of the US House of Representatives' impeachment vote on U.S. President Bill Clinton on Thursday.
Asian currencies the day before traded weaker against the dollar in line with a drop in the yen following comments from Japan's Economic Planning Agency that the yen's rise against the dollar was too sudden.