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.