Asian monies mostly down late, Taiwan dollar at 15-year low
Asian monies mostly down late, Taiwan dollar at 15-year low
SINGAPORE (Dow Jones): Most Asian currencies tracked the falls in the Singapore dollar and the New Taiwan dollar to their weakest levels in more than a decade late Wednesday, as market participants came to grips with the dire state of the region's economies, dealers said.
The Indonesian currency remained isolated from the region's developments, trading unchanged around Rp 11,355 per dollar.
The slump on most of the regional stock markets - roiled by Wall Street's overnight losses - and the battering suffered by other emerging market currencies, also added to the gloom prevading Asia's foreign exchange markets, dealers said.
Staggering under the weight of these burdens, Asian currencies appear to have detached themselves from the yen's movements for now, market watchers said.
At 0835 GMT (3:35 p.m. Jakarta time), the dollar was quoted at 124.74 yen, lower than 125.35 yen late Tuesday in New York, and 125.83 yen late Tuesday in Tokyo.
The New Taiwan dollar late in the day outpaced the Singapore dollar's descent to finish at a 15-year low.
The Taipei bourse's close to a six-year low dealt another blow to sentiment, already bruised by worries over the wheezing economy, dealers said.
The central bank refrained from rescuing the local currency, allowing it to slide past the NT$35 mark against the U.S. dollar toward the close, dealers noted.
The U.S. dollar ended at NT$35.05, up from NT$34.656 Tuesday. Dealings were valued at US$660 million, up from US$583 million Tuesday.
Signaling the monetary authority's resolve to tolerate a further weakening of the New Taiwan dollar, central bank board Director Lin Chung-hsiung was quoted in a local daily as saying that if the local currency needs to depreciate, it should be allowed to, and that the central bank shouldn't overly intervene in the foreign exchange markets.
The Singapore dollar continued to languish around 11-year lows, despite suspected intervention by the monetary authority earlier in the day, dealers said.
The U.S. dollar had risen to a fresh 11-year high of S$1.8377 in early trade, but pulled back to around S$1.8340, as aggressive sales of the U.S. currency by a European and a local bank fueled speculation they were acting on behalf of the Monetary Authority of Singapore, dealers said.
But remarks by a minister Wednesday that it's a "near certainty" Singapore's economy will contract again in the third quarter pulled the rug out from under the Singapore dollar again, dealers said.
At 0945 GMT (5:45 a.m. EDT), the U.S. dollar was at S$1.8345, lower than S$1.8373 late Tuesday.
Feeling the strain from the weaker currencies of Taiwan and Singapore, the South Korean won finally played catch up as it snapped out of its recent trading range to close at a two-month low, dealers said.
The dollar closed at 1,308.8 won Wednesday, up from 1,299.0 won Tuesday.
The Thai currency lapsed to 45.545 baht per dollar from 45.460 baht late Tuesday, after central bank Governor Pridiyathorn Devakula said the authority wanted the baht "to move in line with the regional trend".
The regional currency weakness spilled over onto the Philippine Dealing System, where the dollar closed higher at 53.065 pesos, from 52.950 pesos Tuesday.