SE Asian monies sink along with yen
SE Asian monies sink along with yen
SINGAPORE (Dow Jones): Southeast Asian currencies fell in late trading Friday, dragged down by a plunging Japanese yen. Regional currencies were rangebound for most of the day, after dropping early on overnight losses by the yen.
Comments overnight by Japan's new Finance Minister Kiichi Miyazawa suggesting that markets should be left to find their own levels sent the dollar soaring Thursday in New York to an intraday high of Y143.85.
Friday afternoon in Asia, the dollar soared above Y144 after Europe opened and had a chance to react to Miyazawa's remarks.
Andrew Dermot Fung, treasury economist with Standard Chartered Bank in London, said the yen will remain a negative influence on regional currencies for some time to come.
A looming dispute between Malaysia and Singapore over Singapore's plans to relocate a railway customs facility Saturday had little effect on currency trading Friday, dealers say.
However, they warned that if the issue is not resolved over the weekend it could hit both currencies Monday.
"If there are problems over the weekend, then the Singapore dollar could get whacked," said the local bank trader. "It would be worse for the Singapore dollar because it is happening in Singapore."
At late Asian trading, the U.S. dollar was quoted at S$1.7295, up from S$1.7119 late Thursday in Asia. The U.S. dollar was quoted at 4.1500 ringgit, up from 4.1260 ringgit late Thursday.
The Thai baht is also lower against the dollar amid what dealers in Singapore described as thin trading interest.
The U.S. dollar is quoted at 40.9050 baht, up from 40.7050 baht Wednesday.
On the Philippine Dealing System, the U.S. dollar ended at 42.030 pesos, up from 41.995 pesos on Thursday.
In northeast Asia, exporters selling dollars in South Korea to pay for month-end settlements boosted the won despite the yen's weakness, dealers in Seoul said.
The dollar closed at 1,230 won, compared with 1,234 won at Thursday's close.
The New Taiwan dollar finished lower against the U.S. currency, dragged down by yen weakness and month-end dollar demand from local importers to settle their import bills, dealers said in Taipei.
Despite central bank dollar sales to the tune of US$50 million-US$60 million, the U.S. dollar ended at NT$34.369, up from Thursday's close of NT$34.330.
In London, the dollar also rallied against the yen.
After breaking through the Y144.00 barrier around 0824 GMT for the first time since July 13, the dollar traded above the psychologically important Y144.00 level for the rest of the morning session and peaked at an intraday high of 144.47 around 1017 GMT.
The Deutsche mark also rose against the yen, trading above Y81.00 for the first time since October 1992, when it was at Y85.79.
"The markets are under the impression that Japanese authorities are not too concerned about exchange rates, that their pain threshold is higher now," Paul Meggyesi, currency economist at Deutsche Morgan Grenfell said.