Most Asian Currencies Up Late; Airport Siege Hurts Peso
Most Asian Currencies Up Late; Airport Siege Hurts Peso
Dow Jones
Singapore
Most Asian currencies strengthened ON Monday as the dollar failed
to capitalize on economic data indicating that a long-awaited
pickup in U.S. jobs growth is finally underway.
Analysts said the dollar's poor response to the numbers
suggests that much of the good news about the U.S. economy has
already been priced in to exchange rates, and that investors
believe growth prospects in Asia are better than in the U.S.
The U.S. Labor Department on Friday reported that nonfarm
payroll jobs rose by 126,000 in October and a revised 125,000 in
September, the largest back-to-back increase in national
employment since late 2000.
Until now, job creation on that scale was viewed as the
missing link to a sustainable U.S. economic recovery.
In Asia on Monday, the only regional Asian currency to lag the
dollar was the Philippine peso, which came under selling pressure
after a weekend incident in which two armed men took control of
the Manila airport control tower.
Authorities on Monday were investigating whether the men -
former Air Transport Office chief Panfilo Villaruel and navy
reserve officer Ricardo Catchillar - acted alone or were part of
a bigger plot.
Police fatally shot the two after a four-hour standoff. Near
the airport, police later found an abandoned car loaded with 33
blocks of explosives. The car was believed used by Catchillar.
The dollar closed at 55.365 peso on the Philippine Dealing
System, up from 55.270 peso on Friday.
The peso is expected to remain on the defensive for the
remainder of the year due to uncertainties regarding the
political situation in the Philippines heading into next May's
elections.
The progress on Monday toward ending a constitutional standoff
between members of Congress and the Supreme Court is a positive
development, but political risk is still a major concern.
The South Korean won strengthened to a three-week high as
foreign investors continued to pour money into the local stock
market.
The dollar finished at 1,174 won, down from Friday's close of
1,179.3 won.
The lack of noticeable official intervention to slow the won's
rise also encouraged market participants to sell the dollar a bit
more aggressively, traders said.
The New Taiwan dollar gained modestly after trading in a
narrow range against its U.S. counterpart.
The U.S. dollar closed at NT$33.975, down from NT$34.012 on
Friday. The currency pair traded between NT$34.026 and NT$33.970.
A trader at a local bank attributed the lack of trading
activity to a dearth of domestic news, and a quiet session in the
dollar/yen market.
Against the Singapore dollar, the U.S. currency was quoted at
S$1.7378 in late Asian trading, down from S$1.7412 late on Friday
in Asia. It traded between S$1.7375 and S$1.7405 intraday.
The U.S. dollar opened near its session high of S$1.7405 but
retreated to the intraday low S$1.7375 by midafternoon as some
investors, disappointed by the U.S. dollar's inability to ride on
last week's gains, took profit.
Market participants will soon be turning their attention to a
government report on Singapore's third-quarter economic
performance scheduled for release next Monday.
According to advance estimates, the island's gross domestic
product expanded 1 percent on year in the third quarter, but some
economists expect the number to be revised up slightly in next
week's report.
The Indonesian rupiah was unchanged as investors digested the
latest news of auditing problems at telephone giant, PT
Telekomunikasi Indonesia (Telkom).
The dollar was quoted at Rp 8,485 late in the Asian session.
Shares in Telkom tumbled 2.6 percent on Monday after falling
by nearly 5 percent on Friday. Telkom has said that it may reduce
2002 net profit by between 4 percent and 20 percent from earlier
reported due to an ongoing reaudit.