Most Asian moneies up late, dollar soft on weak data

Most Asian moneies up late, dollar soft on weak data

Alan Yonan Jr., Dow Jones, Singapore

The U.S. dollar weakened against most Asian currencies
Thursday as fresh signs emerged that the U.S. economic expansion
is slowing.

The latest round of U.S. data included a government report
showing the economy in the second quarter expanded at only half
the pace that most Wall Street economists had expected.

Another report revealed that manufacturing activity moderated
significantly in July.

However, the fact the U.S. dollar held up fairly well against
its major counterparts, despite the weak numbers, and slipped
only modestly against most Asian currencies, suggests that market
players are still trying to gauge the global impact of slower
U.S. economic growth, analysts said.

The Singapore dollar, New Taiwan dollar, South Korean won and
Philippine peso strengthened against the U.S. unit. But the
Indonesian rupiah and Thai baht weakened.

The won got a boost from U.S. dollar sales by oil refiner SK
Corp., which was converting proceeds from a recent U.S. dollar-
bond issue back into local currency.

Korean exporters also sold the U.S. currency as part of their
regular operations.

The U.S. dollar closed at 1,182.8 won, down from KRW1,188.0
Wednesday.

The Taiwan currency gained on its U.S. counterpart for the
third straight session, helped by U.S. dollar sales by exporters
and interbank dealers.

The U.S. dollar closed at NT$33.667, down from NT$33.758
Wednesday.

The Singapore dollar gained as U.S. investment houses unwound
their long U.S.-dollar positions.

Late in Asia the U.S. dollar was quoted at S$1.7575, down from
S$1.7620 late Wednesday.

The Singapore currency generally tracked the yen during the
session. A drop in the U.S. dollar below 120 yen early in the
session sparked some corporate sales of U.S. dollars in
Singapore, dealer said.

The selling intensified as market participants tried to avoid
getting caught with long U.S.-dollar positions, pushing the U.S.
currency to a daily low of S$1.7545, its weakest level in almost
a week.

The peso benefited as local banks sold dollars based on
expectations that importer demand for the U.S. currency would
wane in August.

Remittance inflows from overseas Filipino workers are expected
to further support the peso in the weeks ahead, the trader added.

Dollar purchases by Indonesian companies to repay foreign debt
weighed on the rupiah.

Near the end of Asian trading the dollar was quoted at Rp
9,140, up from Rp9,065 late Wednesday.

The Indonesian Bank Restructuring Agency was in the market
selling dollars, but the volume wasn't sufficient to reverse the
currency's direction.

In addition, the rupiah failed to capitalize on an
announcement by Fitch that it was upgrading Indonesia's long-term
foreign currency rating to B from B-.

Against the baht, the dollar was quoted at 42.140 baht in late
Asian trading, up from 42.020 baht late Wednesday.

The baht had traded stronger for most of the session, but
slipped in the last hour of trading in tandem with a drop in the
yen against the dollar.