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India rupee

BOMBAY: The Indian rupee ended steady on Tuesday on heavy dollar inflows and light bids by state-run banks during the day, dealers said.

The rupee ended at 43.6025/6075 against the dollar after opening at 43.60/6025.

"There were a lot of dollar supplies and a large media house was selling apart from a few other corporates. There were outflows, mainly from foreign funds, but were significantly lower," a dealer in a state-run bank said.

Dealers said the State Bank of India (SBI) sold dollars in the morning, but bid dollars at 43.6050 in later trade.

"It might be sterilising dollar inflows to inject liquidity in the call money market," a dealer in a private sector bank said.

Call money rates eased marginally in afternoon trade to close at 9.75-10.0 percent after opening at 10.25-10.75 percent on Tuesday.

Near term forward premia tracked call money rates and edged down in evening trade, dealers said.

"There was a fair bit of paying in the morning and some month-end rollovers by importers. But once call rates started to come off, premiums started to fall," a dealer in a state-run bank said.

The six month premium ended at an annualised 3.60 percent against the previous close of 3.65 percent. -Reuters

Chinese yuan

SHANGHAI: China's yuan closed slightly lower against the US currency on Tuesday, pulled down by importers buying dollars, dealers said.

The yuan ended at 8.2795 to one US dollar against 8.2793 on Monday after trading in a narrow range of 8.2792 to 8.2798.

"Dollar demand was still strong because importers kept buying," said a dealer at a local bank.

China's imports soared 54.2 percent year-on-year in January-February to $28.69 billion while exports surged 41.2 percent to $31.57 billion, official figures showed.

Expectations that China's central bank could raise interest rates on US dollar deposits after the US Federal Reserve increased rates last week also put pressure on the yuan, dealers said.

"After the US rate rise, some people expect a follow-up move for dollar deposits here," said a dealer at a foreign bank.

The yuan ended lower against the Japanese yen at 7.7720 to 100 yen from 7.7401 on Monday. It eased to 1.0638 against the Hong Kong dollar from 1.0622. -Reuters

S Korean won

SEOUL: The South Korean won was stripped of its gains in late trade on Tuesday as strong dollar buying intervention by the government thwarted exporter dollar sales, dealers said.

The won closed slightly weaker, at 1,112.2 compared with on Monday's close of 1,112.1.

It opened at an intraday low of 1,113.0 and moved in a tight range at around 1,111 won per dollar, caught between exporter dollar sales and corporate demand for import settlements.

"Following the Finance Ministry's verbal intervention, state banks appeared to have purchased up to $50 million in dollars toward the end of the session," said a foreign bank dealer. As the won was threatening to break above the current support level of 1,110 won in late afternoon trade, the Finance Ministry said in a statement it was concerned about the won's rise, citing possible harm to the nation's export price competitiveness.

Korean exporters have complained the appreciation of the Korean currency versus the dollar could damage their competitive edge, particularly over their Japanese rivals.

The dollar/yen, which is closely watched by Korean monetary authorities, was trading at 106.40/6.45 yen, compared with 106.69 yen in New York late on Monday.

Dealers said Korean exporters stay competitive versus the yen as long as the won/yen rate fell below 10 to 1.

The won/yen rate stood at 10.43/45.

The dollar/won has recently been under pressure by persistent dollar inflows from foreign equity funds and end-of-month export settlements.

Dealers said they expect the won to move between 1,111 and 1,114 on Wednesday.

The market showed muted reaction to the release of consumer and producer price indices.

The Finance Ministry said South Korea's consumer price index (CPI), its broadest gauge of inflation, rose 0.3 percent in March from February.

CPI for January to March was 1.5 percent higher than in the same 1999 period, but was well within the government's target of three percent for 2000.

The six-month non-deliverable forward (NDF) won was quoted at 1,112.7/14.2 versus 1,113.3/15.3 late on Monday.

The one-year won stood at 1,115.3/16.8 against 1,115.5/17.5. -Reuters

Taiwanese dollar

TAIPEI: The Taiwan dollar shed some early gains to end below T$30.6 to the US dollar on Tuesday as central bank intervention cushioned the local currency's uptrend.

CLOSE: T$30.605 to the US dollar compared to T$30.627 on Monday. On the smaller Cosmos market, the Taiwan currency closed at T$30.604 against its finish of T$30.626 on Monday.

TURNOVER THROUGH DEALERS: modest at US$434.5 million compared to US$423 million on Monday. Cosmos turnover fell to US$151 million from US$167.5 million on Monday.

The Taiwan dollar opened higher at T$30.602 to the US dollar and gained more upward momentum, breaking the T$30.6 threshold in early trade as persistent inflows of foreign funds pushed the local currency higher.

The Taiwan dollar gradually lost steam and hovered below T$30.6 for most of the afternoon session as the central bank actively intervened to slow the Taiwan dollar's appreciation. One dealer at a trustee bank for foreign funds said interbank operators rushed to trim US dollar positions in hope of further gains for the local currency, nudging the Taiwan dollar to break T$30.6 repeatedly and touch as high as T$30.595.

Dealers said unquenched foreign interest in local equities provided support to the firming Taiwan dollar, prompting interbank operators to unload their greenback holdings.

Foreign funds were net buyers of T$3.433 billion in Taiwan stocks on Tuesday, accumulating T$24.817 billion in local equities over last five sessions of net buying.

Dealers said there was routine month-end selling of the US dollar by exporters which put further upward pressure on the Taiwan dollar.

But they said the central bank, apparently unwilling to see the Taiwan dollar rise above the T$30.6 threshold, had actively bought US dollar to keep the local currency in check.

For Wednesday, dealers said they expected the Taiwan dollar to range between T$30.58 and T$30.63.-Reuters

Philippine peso

MANILA: The Philippine peso closed moderately higher against the dollar on Tuesday but dealers said it was biased to weaken due to corporate demand for dollars. The local unit ended at at 40.948 from the 40.955 close on Monday, but it was last quoted at 40.96/40.97. Turnover rose to $214.7 from the previous $117.2 million.

Dealers said the peso will likely test the 41 per dollar level on Wednesday as banks keep long dollar positions for corporates buying dollars to pay maturing loans.

"We'd likely test 41. The market is not very long on dollars. It may not have much in excess to service corporate demand," a dealer with a local bank said. -Reuters

Indonesian rupiah

JAKARTA: The rupiah weakened through a key 7,500 support level on Tuesday amid market talk the IMF may delay its next loan instalment to Indonesia due to the country's failure to meet certain targets.

The rupiah stood at 7,570/7,590 to the dollar compared with 7,475/7,490 in late local trade on Monday.

One European bank dealer said the dollar was well bid at 7,550 level and that it was seen testing 7,600 despite efforts by the powerful Indonesian Bank Restructuring Agency (IBRA) to limit the currency's downside.

"Most of the dollar buying orders came from Singapore after the lunch break. They were worried about the possible delay in the loan disbursement, due next month," the dealer said.

Another dealer, however, said the possibility of a delay was small as the IMF must have known the repercussion of such a move on the crisis-hit country.

Dealers said local corporates also put heavy dollar bids mainly for foreign debt repayments ahead of the end of the fiscal year on March 31.

President Abdurrahman Wahid said on Tuesday the IMF's executive board would meet to discuss the next loan tranche for the country on April 15, later than expected.

The IMF said no date had yet been set for the board meeting.

Another dealer said demand for the rupiah for tax payment purposes ahead of the fiscal year-end helped limit further downside for the local unit.

The rupiah demand also pushed short-dated swaps higher, although some profit-taking had taken them off their early highs, she said.

Some players took arbitrage opportunities by entering into the swaps market following relatively tight liquidity on the money market, she said.

"Tom/next hit a high of 1.5 point, before easing to 0.60/0.80, after players taking advantage of the arbitrage opportunity due to differences between the overnight interbank rate and the swaps rate," the dealer said.

The dealer said the rupiah's tight liquidity on the money market had pushed up overnight interbank rates to 9.75 percent early on Tuesday from 9.5 percent for local banks.

Bank Indonesia said 7.1 trillion rupiah in funds matured early on Tuesday. -Reuters