Indonesia's troubles plague Asian currencies
Indonesia's troubles plague Asian currencies
SINGAPORE (Reuters): The Indonesian rupiah took another battering yesterday and other Asian currencies went down with it, although they bounced off their lows as the rupiah clawed back a little ground.
Dealers said they remained under pressure with demand for the U.S. dollar still high.
"The dollar is off its highs across the board on profit taking. But underlying demand for dollar is still very firm," a dealer with a Japanese bank said.
The rupiah nosedived in early trade to another new low of 12,000 to the U.S. dollar as Indonesian companies struggled to meet maturing dollar-denominated debt.
Dealers said Jakarta was having a hard time getting enough dollars to meet debts because credit lines were being cut.
"The Indonesian names are having a credit problem and they cannot get dollars because of this," a Singapore dealer said.
The lack of credit lines has forced Indonesian banks and companies to settle up with rupiah, forcing their counterparties to cover their own short positions in the market, dealers said. This in turn pushed the rupiah to its new historic low.
Dealers said the shortage of dollars would continue to push the rupiah down. Some predicted it could hit 15,000 to the dollar.
At 1030 GMT, the rupiah had struggled back to 11,550/11,850, compared to its opening 10,000/10,500.
The falling rupiah was blamed for pulling the Malaysian ringgit lower. It hit 4.5000 to the dollar before rebounding slightly to 4.4350/650 in the late afternoon.
The ringgit ended at around 4.2000/300 on Tuesday.
Dealers said interbank dollar buying was also another weight on the ringgit as the market was a bit short on dollars.
One dealer said a couple of U.S. banks also successfully triggered stop-losses on the upside for the dollar/ringgit at 4.3100-4.4000 and above.
Dealers said higher interest rates could provide some support for the ringgit. The benchmark three-month Kuala Lumpur Interbank Offered Rate crossed the key 10-percent mark on Tuesday to 10.04 percent against 9.57 percent at the start of the week.
The rupiah also pulled the Singapore dollar down. It was quoted around 1.7580/30 per U.S. dollar in the late afternoon against 1.7560/10 on Tuesday.
One dealer said the Singapore dollar was likely to range trade within the 1.7250-1.7750 band ahead of the Lunar New Year holidays next week.
Corporate demand for dollars pushed the Thai baht lower to 53.35/60 per dollar against 53.05/30 late Tuesday. Dealers said the dollar demand was met by dollar sales from exporters.
The overnight interbank rate was steady at 21-22 percent in a quiet market.
The Philippine peso had a volatile day, trading between 42.996 and 40.850 to the dollar with the central bank seen intervening indirectly through two foreign banks, dealers said.
The peso opened strongly, then fell rapidly through two successive volatility bands before making a recovery in late trade. The peso was quoted around 41.60 against Tuesday's close of 40.95.
The South Korean won ended lower against the dollar as foreigners began to withdraw investments from the stock market, pulling the Korean stock index down 5.04 percent or 26.89 points to 506.66, dealers said.
The won fell to 1,723 by the close against Tuesday's close of 1,642.
Dealers said other factors contributing to the won's weakness included the rupiah fall as well as renewed concerns over the rolling over of South Korea's short-term debt.
The Taiwan dollar bucked the trend, ending firmer at T$33.478 against Tuesday's close of T$33.551 on the back of demand ahead of the Lunar New Year holidays.
The following table shows the drop in value of Asian currencies since the crisis began in July. Currency movements are in percentage terms and reflect the local unit's fall against the dollar, not the dollar's rise.
Currency Current value Move since July 1.
----------------------------------------------------
Indonesian Rupiah 11,250.00 -78.38%
Thai Baht 53.40 -51.50%
Korean Won 1,723.00 -48.46%
Malaysian Ringgit 4.45 -43.31%
Philippine Peso 41.60 -36.30%
Taiwan dollar 33.48 -17.12%
Singapore dollar 1.76 -18.73%
Hong Kong dollar 7.74 0.11%
Indian rupee 38.67 - 7.38%