Yahoo!  My Yahoo!  Mail
				News Home - Help

News Home Top Stories World Asia Pacific Business Technology Entertainment Sports Photos -- News by Country -- Indonesia Malaysia Philippines Singapore Thailand -- Greater Asia -- China Hong Kong Taiwan
	Yahoo! Asia News Search Yahoo! News

		advertisement
Friday July 18, 12:04 PM Emerging FX-Peso up over 1 pct, won rises on intervention SINGAPORE, July 18 (Reuters) - The Philippine peso rose 1.3 percent to a three-week high on Friday after an aggressive rate rise by the country's central bank that caught investors by surprise. The Korean won was also firm, rising 0.3 percent on suspected dollar-selling intervention and calls by authorities for the currency to reflect fundamentals. Other currencies were largely rangebound against a broadly stronger U.S. dollar, boosted by a fall in oil prices by more than $5 a barrel and an easing of concerns about the U.S. financial sector. The peso rose as high as 44.44 per dollar as local markets opened before edging back to around 44.53. Although underpinned by the fall back in oil prices to around $130, traders said the main support for the currency followed a decision by the Philippines' central bank, BSP, to raise interest rates by a hefty half a percentage point on Thursday to combat 14-year high inflation. "The market is reacting to BSP's 50-basis-point hike plus the fall in crude oil last night," said a trader in Manila. He said he expected the peso to trade within a range of 44.25 and 44.75 on Friday. "There is a huge correction in the dollar/peso trend at the moment." The peso has lost 7.3 percent so far this year despite Friday's gain, a stark contrast to its performance last year when it topped gainers in Asia by leaping 19 percent. UBS analysts said they had revised their short-term peso forecasts and were more bullish on the currency. "The aggressive tightening stance could however be a clearer support for the currency, particularly in the short-term given what we believe is a market that has remained extremely long dollar/peso in recent weeks. We revise our 1-month and 3-month dollar/peso forecasts to 44.50 each," a UBS note said. The South Korean won firmed to 1,009.75 per dollar, and traders suspected the authorities had sold dollars to buoy the currency in the fight against inflation. Verbal intervention occurred before the suspected dollar sales, when a central bank official was reported to have said authorities would take action if the won failed to reflect fundamentals. The U.S. dollar's strength -- it posted its biggest rise against the yen in more than three months on Thursday -- limited gains in the Taiwan dollar and weighed on other currencies, including the Singapore dollar and Malaysian ringgit. The ringgit fell by 0.3 percent to a 5-day low of 3.24, continuing a steady slide this week off the back of fresh political upheaval, including a sodomy allegation against a popular Malaysian opposition figure who says the charges are trumped up and designed to prevent him entering parliament. [ID:nKLR231395] CURRENCIES VS U.S. DOLLAR Change on the day at 0254 GMT Currency Latest bid Previous day Pct Move Japan yen 106.34 105.38 -0.90 Sing dlr 1.3518 1.3508 -0.07 Taiwan dlr 30.332 30.359 +0.09 Korean won 1011.90 1012.80 +0.09 Baht 33.42 33.52 +0.30 Peso 44.53 45.03 +1.12 Rupiah 9147.00 9140.00 -0.08 Ringgit 3.2385 3.2310 -0.23 Yuan 6.8257 6.8213 -0.06 Change so far in 2008 Currency Latest bid End prev year Pct Move Japan yen 106.34 111.33 +4.69 Sing dlr 1.3518 1.4382 +6.39 Taiwan dlr 30.332 32.443 +6.96 Korean won 1011.90 935.70 -7.53 Baht 33.42 33.68 +0.78 Peso 44.53 41.28 -7.30 Rupiah 9147.00 9390.00 +2.66 Rupee 42.82 39.41 -7.95 Ringgit 3.2385 3.3050 +2.05 Yuan 6.8257 7.3041 +7.01 (Reporting by Melissa Chia; Editing by Neil Fullick)