Rupiah slightly weaker over domestic concerns
Rupiah slightly weaker over domestic concerns
SINGAPORE (Dow Jones): Most Asian currencies were higher late Monday, as the yen's rebound and easing domestic uncertainties in some countries provided a breathing spell for the markets, dealers said.
Bucking the trend, the Indonesian rupiah and the Singapore dollar were slightly weaker.
Local corporate dollar demand and intensifying pressure on Indonesian President Abdurrahman Wahid to step down - as thousands of student protesters marched through the streets, demanding the Indonesian leader quit over two corruption scandals - weighed on the rupiah, dealers said.
But the central bank's latest foreign exchange regulations to curb speculative trading succeeded in cushioning the rupiah's fall, as the currency has been dropped off most offshore investors' radar screens, dealers added.
"I don't think you can do any more trading in the rupiah offshore," said a dealer at a European bank. "The central bank is pretty serious about its latest curbs and they just want to stop the offshore market from trading."
The central bank was reportedly meeting foreign banks in Jakarta Monday to clarify the latest foreign exchange measures.
The measures, which included a ban on rupiah lending, has created confusion and settlement problems, and effectively killed the offshore rupiah market.
After rising to an intraday high of Rp 9,475, the dollar closed at Rp 9,450, up from Rp 9,440 at Friday's close.
In the largest protest against Gus Dur, as the President is more popularly called, police fired tear gas and warning shots as thousands of rock-throwing student demonstrators stormed the gates of Indonesia's parliament, where legislators convened to hear the results of a long-running investigation into two multimillion dollar corruption scandals.
Many say there is sufficient evidence to implicate Gus Dur in both scandals despite the president's repeated denials of wrongdoing. It is far from certain, though, whether the parliament will pursue the case and initiate lengthy impeachment proceedings.
Gus Dur's popular deputy, Megawati Sukarnoputri, whose party controls the most seats in legislature and who is the president's most likely successor, seemed to play down the likelihood of impeachment.
"Even if acquitted, investors remain concerned about the fragile state of relations with separatist-inclined provinces," ABN AMRO Bank said in its weekly report. "External debt service payments are expected to come to around $26 billion in 2001." - -
The Singapore dollar weakened amid market speculation that the local monetary authority might revert to a neutral policy stance next month, from the current tightening bias.
The Singapore dollar weakened amid market speculation that the local monetary authority might revert to a neutral policy stance next month, from the current tightening bias.
But the U.S. dollar continued to find difficulty in piercing above the psychologically important S$1.7500 level as the Japanese yen and Thai baht gained ground, dealers said.
DBS Bank, however, said the authority will likely limit the Singapore dollar's weakness at S$1.7600 to S$1.7620.
The Thai currency, which also found support from the yen's late rebound, strengthened to 42.635 baht, from 42.840 baht late Friday.
Against the New Taiwan dollar, the U.S. currency closed at NT$32.525, down from its previous close of NT$32.564, with the central bank intervening to slow the local currency's appreciation. Taiwan's market was closed last week due to the Lunar New Year holidays.
In Seoul, the dollar finished at 1,267.1 won, down from 1,280.3 won Friday.
Against the Japanese yen, the dollar was quoted at Y116.40, below Y117.32 late Friday in New York, and Y116.67 late Friday in Tokyo.