Asian monies up as investors overseas seek to buy stocks
Asian monies up as investors overseas seek to buy stocks
Bloomberg, Singapore/Jakarta
The South Korean won and Singapore dollar rose on expectations investors abroad will buy more Asian stocks as they bet growth in the U.S. economy spurs demand for exports, helping the region's economic expansion.
Overseas money managers yesterday bought a net $288 million of South Korea's equities and NT$5.3 billion (US$156 million) of Taiwan's stocks. The purchases were the most for both markets in a week. Overseas demand for Thailand's shares in the past two days were the highest since the two-day period ended Oct. 10.
There will be "more inflows into Asia and that will support Asian currencies," said Patrick Bennett, a Singapore-based strategist at Commerzbank AG, Germany's third-largest bank by assets. "Asia is a leveraged trade on the global economic recovery. Asia is a good place to be."
The won rose 0.2 percent to 1,182.45 against the dollar at 5:33 p.m. Seoul time, according to Seoul Money Brokerage Services.
The Singapore dollar gained 0.1 percent to S$1.7431. The Thai baht was little changed at 39.90, while Taiwan's currency held at NT$34.010, according to Taipei Forex Inc.
The Philippine peso rose 0.3 percent to 55.175, according to Bankers Association of the Philippines. In India, the rupee was little changed at 45.32.
Exports make up the bulk of Asian economic production, and most Asian economies count the U.S. as their biggest overseas market. Shipments abroad contribute about 40 percent of South Korea's gross domestic product. The value of Singapore's exports is more than 1.5 times GDP and exports make up about half of Taiwan's economy. They account for half the GDP of Thailand.
Economists at companies including Lehman Brothers Inc., Cantor Fitzgerald LP and Bank of Tokyo-Mitsubishi Ltd. are more optimistic about the U.S. economy than a month ago, a monthly Bloomberg News survey shows. The GDP will expand at a 4 percent annual rate from October through December, based on the median forecast of 56 economists surveyed by Bloomberg News from Oct. 24 to Nov. 3. The forecast was 3.8 percent a month ago.
Benchmark stock indexes in Thailand and Indonesia were among top 10 performers in the world this year. Thailand's SET index doubled, as the Jakarta Composite Index rose 58 percent in dollar terms. Singapore's Straits Times Index climbed 32 percent in 2003.
The 29 percent gain in South Korea's Kospi index this year didn't deter international fund managers from putting more money net $144 million of the country's stocks today.
The Indonesian rupiah rose 0.4 percent to 8,481 against the dollar after a government bond sale yesterday drew bids for more than two times the amount of debt on offer, boosting demand for the domestic currency.
The government sold Rp 2.5 trillion of seven-year local- currency bonds, priced to yield 12.92 percent. Some of the bids came from investors outside the country, the Finance Ministry said, though it wouldn't give their value.
"Demand is still there for government bonds," which helps support the rupiah, said Wiling Bolung, head of trading at HSBC Bank Jakarta, a unit of the world's second-biggest bank by market value.