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Asian currencies slide

against greenback

HONG KONG: The US dollar enjoyed a revival against all Asian currencies last week with joint intervention by Japan, Germany and the United States helping to push the dollar to its highest quotation against the Japanese yen in almost six months.

JAPANESE YEN The yen sank further against the dollar this week, as market sentiment toward the Japanese currency remained bearish after a series of central bank market interventions.

The yen traded at 97.61 to the dollar late Friday, down from 93.56-59 a week earlier.

The dollar topped 94 yen here for the first time in nearly five months on Monday amid speculation that the Bank of Japan would intervene to push up the dollar.

It hit 99.05, the highest quotation here in nearly six months, on Wednesday following overnight joint intervention by Japan, Germany and the United States.

The yen consolidated around 98 to the dollar for the rest of the week.

AUSTRALIAN DOLLAR The Australian dollar ended the week down against the greenback, closing at 73.51 US cents Friday compared to 74.32 US cents a week previously.

After starting the week strong at 74.40 US cents, the local unit was unable to keep up with the US dollar, falling to 73.00 cents during Wednesday trading.

Despite its midweek fall, the Australian unit has continued to benefit on the cross rates from the stronger US unit.

On the Reserve Bank of Australia's trade-weighted index, a basket of major trading currencies, the Australian dollar closed at 52.8 points, compared to 52.4 the previous week.

HONG KONG DOLLAR The Hong Kong dollar ended at 7.7435-7.7445 to the US dollar, down from 7.7395-7.7405 last week.

INDONESIAN RUPIAH The Indonesian currency closed on Friday at 2,263 rupiah to the dollar, or two rupiah weaker than at the closing on Friday the previous week.

MALAYSIAN RINGGIT The Malaysian ringgit weakened substantially this week despite central bank intervention, falling 203 points to the dollar to 2.4930 from 2.4727 a week earlier.

The fall was mainly due to the rising strength of the US unit, dealers said.

Dealers said the Central Bank Negara had been supporting domestic rates since mid-week to arrest the ringgit's decline, but the chase for the dollar eroded its efforts.

"We are looking at the ringgit hovering between 2.49 and 2.51 in the week ahead," a money market dealer said.

NEW ZEALAND DOLLAR The New Zealand dollar lost ground against the US dollar, closing worth 64.66 US cents against the closure a week earlier of 66.25 cents.

It rallied briefly towards the end of the week.

SINGAPORE DOLLAR The Singapore dollar retreated against the greenback to 1.4270 from 1.3977 at the end of the previous week as the US unit, enjoying a strong revival, gained strength against Southeast Asian currencies.

The stronger US currency will translate into bigger revenues for local companies whose export earnings are denominated in the US dollar, analysts said.

SOUTH KOREAN WON The US dollar moved up strongly against the won during the week, trading at 778.40 at week's end against 758.30 one week before.

TAIWAN DOLLAR The US dollar climbed to close at 27.44 Taiwan dollars on heavy trading, up eight Taiwan cents from the previous week's finish of 27.36.

The greenback was quoted at 27.456 Taiwan dollars Wednesday, the highest level since June of 1990, despite heavy intervention by the central bank, in response to the US dollar's strong performance in overseas markets.

THAI BAHT The Bank of Thailand's Exchange Equalisation Fund on Friday fixed the official mid-rate at 25.04 baht to one US dollar, compared with the previous week's close of 24.90 baht.

The dollar sharply surged against the baht during the week to 25.07 baht, but profit taking and a wider US July trade deficit caused the greenback to fall slightly at the end of the week, Citibank official said.-AFP