Dollar gives mixed performance against Asian currencies
Dollar gives mixed performance against Asian currencies
HONG KONG (AFP): The U.S. dollar performed mixed against Asian currencies over the week.
Several units registered slight gains following the U.S. Federal Reserve Board's decision to raise interest rates and Washington's release of trade data showing a widening deficit with Tokyo, dealers said.
The Australian, New Zealand and Hong Kong dollars and the Indonesian rupiah were weaker, but losses were slight.
Japanese yen: The yen surged against the dollar to close the week at 98.35 yen, up 1.95 yen from a week earlier, as U.S. trade figures from June released this week showed a rising deficit with Japan.
Australian dollar: The Australian dollar closed Friday only slightly lower against the U.S. currency after a bumpy week's trading highlighted by an official rate hike on Wednesday.
The local dollar closed at 74.07 U.S. cents from the previous week's finish of 74.15 U.S. cents.
Hong Kong: The Hong Kong dollar weakened slightly during the week in line with the falling greenback, closing at 7.7272-7.7277 on Friday, compared with 7.728-7.729 a week ago. The effective exchange rate index stood Friday at 122.2, down 1.1 points from the previous week.
Indonesian rupiah: The Indonesian currency closed the week's trading Friday at 2,172, compared to the previous week's finish of 2,170 rupiah. The rupiah started the week at 2,171 rupiah against the dollar on Monday.
Malaysian ringgit: The Malaysian ringgit ended the week higher at 2.5533 to the U.S. dollar from 2.5562 the previous week. Dealers said the strong ringgit stemmed from the central bank's lifting of a six-month-long ban on swap transactions with non- residents.
New Zealand dollar: The New Zealand dollar closed Friday worth 60.07 U.S. cents, only slightly down on the previous week's closing of 60.10 cents.
Singapore dollar: The Singapore dollar strengthened against the U.S. dollar at 1.5020 here Friday, compared to last week's level of 1.5050.
South Korean won: The U.S. dollar weakened against the South Korean won, closing the week at 804.30, compared with the previous week's close of 805.80.
Taiwan dollar: The U.S. dollar declined slightly to close Friday at 26.435 to the Taiwan dollar, down 2.5 Taiwan cents from the previous week's finish of 26.46.
Thai baht: The Bank of Thailand's Exchange Equalization Fund on Friday fixed the official mid-rate at 24.98 baht to one U.S. dollar, compared with the previous week's close of 25.06. The dollar closed below the 25-baht barrier because of a continuing trade dispute between the United States and Japan, a Thai Military Bank official said.