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Indian rupee

BOMBAY: The Indian rupee fell from opening levels in morning trade on Tuesday on heavy dollar purchases both in the cash and forward market,dealers said.

In noon trade,the rupee hit lows around 43.57/58 per dollar after opening at 43.54/55.

Dealers said the absence of nostro dollar inflows on account of Monday's U.S. market closure and bunched up cash import remittances were putting pressure on the rupee.

They said there was also a spillover of Monday's oil import demand."There is all-round buying in the cash marketdifficult to figure out which sectors are buying. There is also some buying in March," a dealer with a private bank said.

Dealers said the rupee's weakness will not be sustained since some state-run banks had ceased dollar purchases and could turn sellers to check any excess slide.

The weakness in the spot market had affected premiums, which were also in a slightly higher range.

The six-month premium was quoted at an annualised 3.21 percent compared with Monday's close at 3.17.-Reuters

Indonesian rupiah

JAKARTA: The Indonesian rupiah on Tuesday continued its downward trend amid concerns anti-Christian riots on the tourist island of Lombok could spread.

The rupiah was trading at 7,250/7,280 to the dollar compared with 7,245/7,275 in late Monday trade.

Dealers said the market was worried the Lombok riots could spread to other regions in Indonesia.

At least one person died when thousands of Muslims went on a rampage on Monday, torching churches and home after a rally calling for an end to religious violence in the Moluccas, to the east, turned violent.

Sporadic violence continued on Tuesday.

Corporate demand for dollars to repay debts or finance imports was also continuing, dealers said.

"I see the rupiah now moving in a range of between 7,200 and 7,350 against the dollar," said a foreign bank dealer.

Dealers said the state bank was seen intervening in the market to prevent the rupiah weakening further.

They said many players also stayed on the sidelines ahead of the announcement of the state budget on Thursday.

"Basically the market would only react if there were unexpected or new issues in the budget, otherwise it is already factored into the market," said another dealer.

They said if the government released a "market friendly" budget then the rupiah could break the 7,100 level, providing there is quick action to halt the Lombok conflict.-Reuters

Chinese yuan

SHANGHAI: China's yuan ended unchanged against the dollar on Tuesday as increased demand for the yuan from domestic banks was offset by the high exchange rate, dealers said.

The yuan finished at an intraday high of 8.2792 to one U.S. dollar, unchanged from Monday.It touched a low of 8.2796.

Dealers said domestic banks needed more yuan for staff bonuses and other uses ahead of the Chinese lunar new year, which falls on February 5.

But slight gains for the yuan in the past few days limited the room for further rises, they said.

The yuan was likely to move narrowly between 8.2785 to 8.2795 ahead of the lunar new year, they said.

The yuan closed lower against the Japanese yen at 8.0300 to 100 yen against 7.9375 on Monday.

It ended lower against the Hong Kong dollar at 1.0651 to HK$1.0 from 1.0640.-Reuters

S Korean won

SEOUL: The South Korean won closed sharply lower against the U.S. dollar on Tuesday as interbank operators went long on dollars after reading a cue from the government, which looked determined to hold market volatility in check, dealers said.

The won closed at 1,127.0, down from a Monday close of 1,121.0 which marked its strongest finish since November 1997.

It opened at 1,122.0 and moved between 1,118.5 and 1,130.0. "The finance minister's repeated comments targeting a weaker won prompted market players to go long on the greenback," said a local bank dealer.

He said state-run banks, including Korea Development Bank, steadily collected dollars throughout the day, triggering banks to cover their dollar shorts.

Dealers said market participants refrained from unloading dollar holdings after Finance Minister Lee Hun-jai reaffirmed later in the day the need for government intervention in the market.

"There's no reason for the won/dollar rate to fall in the early part of the year as dollar demand usually exceeds supply," a ministry official quoted Lee telling local reporters.

"So the government needs to intervene if the rate is affected by factors other than economic fundamentals," Lee was quoted as saying.

Lee's remarks were interpreted by currency dealers as reaffirming his position stated on Monday that the government may continue to intervene to smooth out sharp movements in the rising Korean currency on Monday.

He had earlier said he preferred the won be driven more by market forces.

"The authorities now appear to have decided to maintain the won weak enough to help keep the nation's trade balance in the black," said another local bank dealer.

The ministry earlier said Korea's trade surplus is expected to shrink in 2000 to $13.0 billion from $24.5 billion in 1999 due to rising imports as the economy continues to expand. -Reuters

Philippine peso

MANILA: The Philippine peso was pulled down on Tuesday by commercial demand for dollars but it was able to close off the day's low, thanks to the appreciation of the Thai baht.

The local currency settled at 40.605 to the dollar after hitting an intra-day low of 40.65. The peso ended at 40.564 on Monday.

The baht was quoted at 37.36/41 by late trade against 37.43/48 in morning trade.

The peso follows the baht because of the similar export markets between the Philippines and Thailand. "We're looking out for where the baht is headed," a trader at a local bank said.

"As the baht appreciated this afternoon, we followed suit.So banks are just looking for the baht for direction on where the peso/dollar rate should be."

Some corporate dollar demand also weighed down the peso, traders said, but they added stronger demand for the dollar would not be felt until the peso approached the 40 level.

Traders said the peso would track the baht in the next session and trade in the range of 40.50 to 40.70.-Reuters

Taiwanese dollar

TAIPEI: The Taiwan dollar ended a trace lower to the U.S. dollar on Tuesday amid routine commercial buying for the greenback, and dealers expected the local currency to enter a rangebound trade in the near term.

CLOSE: T$30.837 to the U.S. dollar, slighlty below Monday's T$30.835 finish. On the smaller Cosmos market, the Taiwan unit ended at T$30.838 compared to T$30.826 on Monday.

TURNOVER THROUGH DEALERS: active at US$352 million, improving from US$286 million on Monday. Cosmos turnover slipped to US$66 million from Monday's US$101 million.

The Taiwan dollar opened at T$30.837,the same as its closing level, but soon rebounded to a high of T$30.816 in early trade with the help of persistent foreign fund inflows. Despite persistent foreign fund inflows for Taiwan's buoyant stock market, dealers said routine U.S. dollar buying to meet commercial demand and active central bank intervention bucked the Taiwan dollar's uptrend.

Foreign funds were net buyers of T$2.609 billion in Taiwan stocks on Tuesday, bringing to T$32.381 billion the cumulative total over eight straight sessions of net buying.

Dealers said U.S. dollar sales by exporters would intensify ahead of the Chinese lunar New Year and the central bank's recent dollar-buying intervention was aimed to allow exporters to take a breather. The Chinese new year falls on February 5.

Dealers said the Taiwan currency was seen locked in a rangebound trade in the near term as the central bank was expected to enter to keep its rise in check.-Reuters