News on Abdurrahman boosts rupiah

News on Abdurrahman boosts rupiah

SINGAPORE (Dow Jones): Hopes that President Abdurrahman
Wahid's ouster will bring a quick settlement to Indonesia's
political crisis vaulted the rupiah to its highest finish against
the dollar in more than four months Monday.

Spillover effects from the positive sentiment also helped the
Singapore dollar and Thai baht strengthen. Elsewhere, the New
Taiwan dollar edged higher, while the South Korean won and
Philippine peso weakened.

Indonesia's People's Consultative Assembly ended months of
uncertainty late Monday afternoon, voting to remove Wahid and
replace him with Vice President Soekarnoputri Megawati.

The rupiah rallied, rising as high as Rp 10,088 in intraday
trade as the events in Indonesia's parliament unfolded. The
rupiah dipped to around Rp 10,230 late in the Asian day, but was
still about 9 percent higher from the close of Rp 11,150 Friday.
It was the rupiah's strongest finish since the Rp 9,850 March 15.

The Singapore dollar tracked the Indonesian rupiah higher
Monday.

Late in Asian trade the U.S. dollar was quoted at S$1.8240,
down from S$1.8250 late Friday. It traded between S$1.8237 and
S$1.8255 in Asia Monday.

The Singapore dollar and rupiah often move in tandem, and any
negative news in Indonesia would usually weigh on the local
dollar.

The Thai baht similarly got a lift from the developments in
Indonesia.

Late in Asia the dollar was quoted at 45.746 baht, down from
45.775 baht late Friday.

In the Philippines, the peso was weighed down by strong
corporate dollar demand in anticipation of further weakness in
the local currency.

However, President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo's open support of
the central bank's measures to curb currency speculation, which
she declared during her first state-of-the-nation address late
Monday, could cap the gains of the dollar in the coming session,
traders said.

The dollar closed at a high of 53.40 pesos from 53.15 pesos at
the close Friday.

Weakness in the Korean stock market and a softer yen pushed
the won lower against the dollar Monday.

The dollar finished at 1,309.3 won, up from Friday's close of
1,305.6 won.

The dollar's rise to Y123.44 early Monday from Y122.96 Friday
underpinned the dollar against the won.

The Kospi closed down 2.5 percent at a three-month low of
524.21 points Monday on growing pessimism over the global
economy. Foreigners' net selling on the Kospi Monday amounted to
45.6 billion won.

The New Taiwan dollar was buoyed by exporter U.S. dollar
sales.

The U.S. dollar ended at NT$34.893, compared with NT$34.961
Friday.

The local currency received a further boost from speculation
that the president's economic development advisers think the New
Taiwan dollar is undervalued, dealers said.

Inflows of foreign equity funds also helped the currency.
Foreign investors Monday bought a net NT$792 million of shares on
the main board.