Asian monies up, rupiah closes at 6-month high
Asian monies up, rupiah closes at 6-month high
Dow Jones, Singapore
Southeast Asian currencies were bolstered by the resilient yen Friday, while foreign exchange markets in Taiwan and South Korea were closed for public holidays.
The Indonesian rupiah continued to barrel ahead on strengthening investment inflows into the country.
A number of interbank players restored short dollar positions following Singapore Telecommunications' announcement a day earlier that it would pay US$429 million to increase its stake in Indonesia's largest mobile phone company, PT Telekomunicasi Selular, dealers said.
The deal came on the heels of U.S.-based Farallon Capital Management's move last month to acquire a 51 percent stake in PT Bank Central Asia.
Expectations that Indonesia will strike a deal with it's creditors next week to roll over US$5.5 billion in debt, and the imminent release of a US$400 million loan from the International Monetary Fund, also boosted sentiment toward the rupiah.
Near the end of Asian trading the dollar was quoted at Rp 9,560, down from Rp 9,680. It was the rupiah's strongest finish since Sept. 25, 2001 when it closed at Rp 9,510 per dollar.
The Philippine peso gained modestly against the U.S. dollar as regional interest in the U.S. currency waned as a result of its inability to advance on the yen.
The dollar closed at 51.095 pesos on the Philippine Dealing System, down from 51.140 pesos Thursday.
Market players began buying pesos when the dollar weakened below the 132 yen threshold.
The peso found further support when some banks opted to square their long dollar positions ahead of the long weekend. Philippine markets are closed Monday for a national holiday.
A mild spike in the consumer price index to a 3.6 percent year-on-year rise in March from 3.4 percent in February had little impact on Philippine financial markets.
Against the yen, the U.S. dollar fell as low as 131.97 yen in Asian trading before recovering to 132.27 yen late in the session. The U.S. dollar was at Y132.35 late Thursday in New York.
The yen strength also fueled buying in the Singapore dollar. Late in Asia the U.S. dollar was quoted at S$1.8358, down from S$1.8400 late Thursday.
A government announcement late Thursday about changes to Singapore's tax structure appeared to have had no discernible impact on the market when it opened Friday.
Officials said they were considering cutting direct taxes on corporate and personal incomes to increase Singapore's attractiveness as a place to do business. Such cuts could be offset by increasing indirect taxes, officials said.
Against the Thai baht, the U.S. dollar fell to 43,580 baht from 43.600 baht a day earlier.